,transcriber's note3 ,text enclosed by underscores is in italics 7italics74 ,small capital text has been replaced with all capitals4 ,variations in spelling1 punctuation and hyphenation have been retained except in obvious cases of typographical error4 ,missing page numbers are page numbers that were not shown in the original text4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,the ,,hart ,,and ,,the ,,water-,,brooks2 ,a ,,practical ,,exposition ,,of ,,the ,,forty-,,second ,,psalm4 ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,,john ,r4 ,,macduff1 ,,author ,,of ,,morning ,,and ,,night ,,watches1 ,,memories ,,of ,,gennesaret1 ,,words ,of ,,jesus1 ,,etc4 ,,etc4 ,the portion of ,god's ,word that is specially precious to me1 more so than ,i am able to express1 is ,psalm forty-second4--,,harrington ,,evans' ,,life1 p4 #cii4 ,what a precious1 soul-comforting ,psalm is that forty-second6--,,life ,,of ,,captain ,,hammond1 p4 #bhi4 ,,london3 ,,james ,,nisbet ,,and ,,co41 #ba ,,berners ,,street4 ,m4,,dccc4,,lx4 ,,edinburgh3 ,,printed ,,by ,,ballantyne ,,and ,,company1 ,,paul',s ,,work4 ,,the ,,forty-,,second ,,psalm4 ,to the ,chief ,musician1 ,,maschil1 for the ,sons of ,korah4 #a ,as the hart panteth after the water-brooks1--so panteth my soul after thee1 ,o ,god4 #b ,my soul thirsteth for ,god1 for the living ,god3--when shall ,i come and appear before ,god8 #c ,my tears have been my meat day and night1 ,while they continually say unto me1 ,where is thy ,god8 #d ,when ,i remember these things1 ,i pour out my soul in me3 ,for ,i had gone with the multitude1 ,i went with them to the house of ,god1 ,with the voice of joy and praise1--with a multitude that kept holy day4 #e ,why art thou cast down1 ,o my soul8--and why art thou disquieted in me8 ,hope thou in ,god3 for ,i shall yet praise him ,for the help of his countenance or1 ,his presence is salvation4 #f ,o my ,god1 my soul is cast down within me3 ,therefore will ,i remember thee from the land of ,jordan1 and of the ,hermonites1 ,from the hill ,mizar4 #g ,deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts2 ,all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me4 #h ,yet the ,lord will command his loving-kindness in the day-time1 ,and in the night his song shall be with me1 ,and my prayer unto the ,god of my life4 #i ,i will say unto ,god my rock1 ,why hast thou forgotten me8 ,why go ,i mourning because of the oppression of the enemy8 #aj ,as with a sword in my bones1 mine enemies reproach me2 ,while they say daily unto me1 ,where is thy ,god8 #aa ,why art thou cast down1 ,o my soul8--and why art thou disquieted within me8 ,hope thou in ,god3 for ,i shall yet praise him1 ,who is the health of my countenance1 and my ,god4#a #a ,the title of the ,psalm 7 ,,maschil--instruction17 is the same as that of other twelve4 ,some have referred the word merely to the music--indicating the tune to which the ,psalms were set1--demanding of the sons of ,korah1 and the chief musician1 7the conductors of temple-song17 some melody specially adapted to the sentiments they contain4 ,others1 with greater probability1 take it as indicative of their design2--that while expressive of personal feeling and experience1 they were intended for the instruction and comfort of the ,church in all ages4 ,hence the term given to them of didactic4 ,though his name is not mentioned1 there is little doubt that ,david1 and not the sons of ,korah1 as some have supposed1 was the author of this ,psalm4 ,the reader is referred to ,hengstenberg for a statement of the internal grounds1 in the ,psalm itself1 to favour this conclusion4 ,to me1 says ,calvin1 it appears more probable that the sons of ,korah are here mentioned because this ,psalm was committed as a precious treasure to be preserved by them2--as we know that out of the number of the singers some were chosen and appointed to be keepers of the ,psalms4 ,that there is no mention made of ,david's name1 does not in itself involve any difficulty1 since we see the same omission in other ,psalms1 of which there is1 notwithstanding1 the strongest grounds for concluding that he was author4 ,according to an arbitrary division by the ,jews of their ,psalter into five parts1 supposed to have been made by ,ezra after the return from ,babylon1 the ,forty-second ,psalm forms the commencement of the second book4 ,regarding its structure1 we may remark1 that it is divided into two portions or strophes1 each of these closing with a refrain in verses #e and #aa4 ,the following is an excellent poetical paraphrase of the ,psalm1 by ,bishop ,lowth3-- ,as pants the wearied hart for cooling springs1 ,that sinks exhausted in the summer's chase2 ,so pants my longing soul1 great ,king of kings6 ,so thirsts to reach ,thy sacred dwelling-place4 ,on briny tears my famish'd soul hath fed1 ,while taunting foes deride my deep despair2 ',say1 where is now thy ,great ,deliverer fled1 ,thy mighty ,god1 deserted wanderer1 where8' ,oft dwell my thoughts on those thrice happy days1 ,when to ,thy fane ,i led the willing throng2 ,our mirth was worship1 all our pleasure praise1 ,and festal joys still closed with sacred song4 ,why throb1 my heart8 why sink1 my saddening soul1 ,why droop to earth1 with various foes oppress'd8 ,my years shall yet in blissful circles roll1 ,and peace be yet an inmate of this breast4 ,by ,jordan's banks with devious steps ,i stray1 ,o'er ,hermon's rugged rocks and deserts dear3 ,e'en there ,thy hand shall guide my lonely way1 ,there ,thy remembrance shall my spirit cheer4 ,in rapid floods the vernal torrents roll1 ,harsh sounding cataracts responsive roar2 ,thine angry billows overwhelm my soul1 ,and dash my shatter'd bark from shore to shore4 ,yet ,thy sure mercies ever in my sight1 ,my heart shall gladden through the tedious day2 ,and 'midst the dark and gloomy shades of night1 ,to ,thee ,i'll fondly tune the grateful lay4 ,rock of my hope6 great ,solace of my heart6 ,why1 why desert the offspring of ,thy care1 ,while taunting foes thus point th' invidious dart1 ',where is thy ,god1 abandon'd wanderer1 where8' ,why faint1 my soul8 why doubt ,jehovah's aid8 ,thy ,god the ,god of mercy still shall prove2 ,within ,his courts thy thanks shall yet be paid1 ,unquestion'd be ,his pity and ,his love4 ,,introductory4 ,,page ,i4 ,,the ,,scene ,,of ,,the ,,psalm1 #b ,,ii4 ,,the ,,general ,,scope ,,of ,,the ,,psalm1 #aj ,,iii4 ,a ,,peculiar ,,experience1 #bd ,,contents ,,of ,,the ,,psalm4 ,i4 ,,the ,,hart ,,panting1 #cf ,,ii4 ,,the ,,hart ,,wounded1 #df ,,iii4 ,,the ,,living ,,god1 #fj ,,iv4 ,,the ,,taunt1 #gh ,v4 ,,the ,,taunt1 #ij ,,vi4 ,,sabbath ,,memories1 #ajb ,,vii4 ,,hope1 #abb ,,viii4 ,,the ,,hill ,,mizar1 #ada ,,ix4 ,,the ,,climax1 #aff ,x4 ,,lessons1 #ahj ,,xi4 ,,faith ,,and ,,prayer1 #aib ,,xii4 ,,the ,,quiet ,,haven1 #bab ,i4 ,the ,scene of the ,psalm4 ,where is thy favour'd haunt1 ,eternal ,voice1 ,the region of ,thy choice1 ,where1 undisturb'd by sin and earth1 the soul ,owns ,thine entire control8 ',tis on the mountain's summit dark and high1 ,where storms are hurrying by3 ',tis 'mid the strong foundations of the earth1 ,where torrents have their birth4 ,no sounds of worldly toil ascending there ,mar the full burst of prayer2 ,lone nature feels that she may freely breathe1 ,and round us and beneath ,are heard her sacred tones3 the fitful sweep ,of winds across the steep1 ,the dashing waters where the air is still1 ,from many a torrent rill--4 ,such sounds as make deep silence in the heart ,for thought to do her part4 ,the spot was so attractive to me1 as well as the view of the surrounding country so charming1 that ,i had great difficulty in tearing myself away from it4 ,in the foreground1 at my feet1 was the ,jordan flowing through its woods of tamarisks4 ,on the other side rose gently the plain of ,beisan surmounted by the high tell of that name4 ,in the distance were the mountains of ,gilboa--the whole stretch of which is seen1 even as far as ancient ,jezreel4--,van de ,velde's ,travels in ,syria and ,palestine1 vol4 ii4 p4 #cee4 ,i4 ,,the ,,scene ,,of ,,the ,,psalm4 ,all recent explorers of ,palestine speak in glowing terms of that solemn eastern background1 with its mellow tints of blue and purple1 rising conspicuous1 as if a wall built by giants1 from the deep gorge or valley of the ,jordan4 ,this mountain range1 and especially the hills of ,gilead1 with their rugged ravines and forests of sycamore and terebinth1 are full of blended memories of joy and sadness4 ,from one of these slopes1 the ,father of the ,faithful obtained his first view of his children's heritage4 ,on another1 the ,angels of ,god--the two bright celestial bands--greeted ,jacob on his return from his sojourn in ,syria4#b ,from another1 trains of wailing captives on their way to ,babylon1 must oft and again have taken through their tears their last look of the mountains round about ,jerusalem4 ,nigh the same spot1 the footsteps of our blessed ,redeemer ,himself lingered1 when death was hovering over the couch of the friend ,he loved at ,bethany4 ,martha and ,mary1 from their ,village-home1 must have lifted their eyes to these same hills1 from whence they knew1 in the extremity of their anguish1 their help alone could come4 ,while1 at a later period1 the same spot was rendered illustrious as the locality of ,pella1 the mountain fortress and asylum whither their ,lord had admonished ,his followers to flee1 when the ,imperial ,eagles of ,rome were gathered by ,titus around the devoted city4#c #b ,gen4 xxxii4 #a4 #c ,see ,mr ,stanley's chapter1 in his ,sinai and ,palestine1 on ,pera and the ,trans-,jordanic ,tribes1 in which these different references are graphically grouped together4 ,the ,peran hills are the ',pisgah' of the earlier history3 to the later history they occupy the pathetic relation that has been immortalised in the name of 'the long ridge1' from which the first and last view of ,granada is obtained4 ,they are the ',last ,sigh' of the ,israelite exile4--7,p4 #cbh47 ,this land beyond the ,jordan still further derives an imperishable interest from being the exile-retreat of the sweet ,singer of ,israel in the most pathetic period of his chequered life and reign4 ,there is no more touching episode in all ,hebrew history than the recorded flight of ,david from his capital on the occasion of the rebellion of ,absalom and the defection of his people4 ,passing1 barefoot and weeping1 across the brook ,kedron1 and thence by the fords of ,jericho1 he sped northwards with his faithful adherents1 and found a temporary shelter amid these remote fastnessess4 ,minds of a peculiar temperament have often found it a relief1 in seasons of sadness1 to give expression to their pent-up feelings in poetry or song4 ,ancient as well as modern verse and music abound with striking examples of this1--,songs in the ,night1 when the mouldering harp was taken down from the willows by some captive spirit1 and made to pour forth its strains or numbers in touching elegy4 ,david's own lament for ,jonathan is a gush of intensified feeling which will occur to all1 and which could have been penned only in an agony of tears4#d #d ,as an example in modern poetry1 need we refer to that noblest tribute ever penned over departed worth1 the ,in ,memoriam of ,tennyson2 or in modern song1 to the exquisite and plaintive loveliness of this very ,psalm1 set to music by ,mendelssohn1 and so well known by the title1 ,as the hart panteth4 ,it was a spirit crushed and broken with other1 but not less poignant sorrows1 which dictated this ,psalm of his exile4 ,may we not imagine that1 in addition to the tension of feeling produced by his altered fortunes1 there was in the very scene of his banishment1 where the plaintive descant was composed1 much to inspire poetic sentiment8 ,the alternate calm and discord of outer nature found their response in his own chequered experiences4 ,nature's olian harp--its invisible strings composed of rustling leaves and foaming brooks1 or the harsher tones of tempest and thunder1 flood and waterfall--awoke the latent harmonies of his soul4 ,they furnished him with a key-note to discourse higher melodies1 and embody struggling thoughts in inspired numbers4 ,in reading this ,psalm we at once feel that we are with the ,minstrel ,king1 not in the ,tabernacle of ,zion1 but in some glorious ,house not made with hands1--some ,cathedral whose aisles are rocky cliffs and tangled branches1 and its roof the canopy of ,heaven6 ,let us picture him seated in one of those deep glens listening to the murmur of the rivulet and the wail of the forest4 ,suddenly the sky is overcast ,dark clouds roll their masses along the purple peaks4 ,the lightning flashes2 and the old oaks and terebinths of ,bashan bend under the tumult of the storm4 ,the higher rivulets have swelled the channel of ,jordan1--deep calls to deep--the waves chafe and riot along the narrow gorges4 ,suddenly a struggling ray of sunshine steals amid the strife1 and a stray note from some bird answers joyously to its gleam4 ,it is1 however1 but a gleam4 ,the sky again threatens1 fresh bolts wake the mountain echoes4 ,the river rolls on in augmented volume1 and the wind wrestles fiercely as ever with the denizens of the forest4 ,at last the contest is at an end4 ,the sky is calm--the air refreshed--the woods are vocal with song--ten thousand dripping boughs sparkle in the sunlight2 the meadows wear a lovelier emerald2 and rock1 and branch1 and floweret1 are reflected in the bosom of the stream4 ,as the royal spectator with a poet and painter's eye is gazing on this shifting diorama1 and when ,nature is laughing and joyous again amid her own tear-drops1 another simple incident arrests his attention4 ,a ,hart or ,deer1 hit by the archers or pursued by some wild beast on these mountains of the leopards1 with hot eyeballs and panting sides1 comes bounding down the forest glade to quench the rage of thirst4 ,the sight suggests nobler aspirations4 ,with trembling hand and tearful eye the exiled spectator awakes his harp-strings1 and bequeaths to us one of the most pathetic musings in the whole ,psalter4 ,the #bc;d has happily been called the nightingale of the ,psalms2 this may appropriately be termed the turtle-dove4 ,we hear the lonely bird as if seated on a solitary branch warbling its reproachful music1 or rather struggling on the ground with broken wing1 uttering a doleful lament4 ,these strains form an epitome of the ,christian life--a diary of religious experience1 which1 after three thousand years1 find an echo in every heart4 ,who can wonder that they have smoothed the death-pillow of dying saints1 and taken a thorn from the crown of the noble army of martyrs6#e #e ,i refer the reader to the words quoted on the title-page4 ,they form the dying testimony and experience of one of the holiest men of any age4 ,we have seen in the possession of a revered friend1 the ,bible which belonged to the great ,marquis of ,argyle1 and which formed his constant companion during the period of his imprisonment4 ,almost every verse of the #db;d ,psalm is specially marked4 ,some of the verses1 such as the third1 are noted with a double stroke4 ,we may well imagine him1 after closing such an afflicted man's companion1 thus writing to his ,marchioness--,they may shut me in prison where they please1 but they cannot shut out ,god from me4 ,,ii4 ,the ,general ,scope of the ,psalm4 ,like unto ships far off at sea1 ,outward or homeward bound are we3 ,before1 behind1 and all around ,floats and swings the horizon's bound2 ,seems at its outer rims to rise1 ,and climb the crystal wall of the skies2 ,and then again to turn and sink1 ,as if we could slide from its outer brink4 ,ah6 it is not the sea that sinks and shelves1 ,but ourselves ,that rock and rise ,with endless and uneasy motion-- ,now touching the very skies1 ,now sinking into the depths of ocean4 ,the ,scriptures have laid a flat opposition between faith and sense4 ,we live by faith and not by sense4 ,they are two buckets--the life of faith and the life of sense2 when one goes up1 the other goes down4--,bridge1 #afcg4 ,there are twins striving within me2 a ,jacob and an ,esau4 ,i can1 through ,thy grace1 imitate ,thy choice1 and say with ,thee1 ,jacob have ,i loved1 and ,esau have ,i hated4 ,blessed ,god6 make ,thou that word of ,thine good in me1 that the elder shall serve the younger4--,bishop ,hall1 #afef4 ,,ii4 ,,the ,,general ,,scope ,,of ,,the ,,psalm4 ,if the ,book of ,psalms be1 as some have styled it1 a mirror or looking-glass of pious and devout affections1 this ,psalm1 in particular1 deserves as much as any one ,psalm to be so entitled1 and is as proper as any other to kindle and excite such in us4 ,gracious desires are here strong and fervent2 gracious hopes and fears1 joys and sorrows1 are here struggling4 ,or we may take it for a conflict between sense and faith2 sense objecting1 and faith answering4#f #f ,matthew ,henry4 ,in these few words1 the ,father of commentators1 with his wonted discernment1 has given us the key to the true interpretation of this sacred song4 ,it may be regarded1 indeed1 as the ,old ,testament parallel to the #gth chapter of the ,epistle to the ,romans1 in which another inspired writer truthfully and powerfully portrays the same great struggle between corruption and grace1 faith and sense1 the old and the new man4 ,there are two antagonist principles in the heart of every believer1 corresponding to the great forces which act in the material world4 ,the tendency of his new nature is to gravitate towards ,god--the ,divine ,sun of his being--the centre of his fondest affections--the object of his deepest love4 ,but there is a law in his members warring against the law of his mind2#g--the remains of his old nature1 leading him to wander in wide and eccentric orbit from the grand ,source of light1 and happiness1 and joy6 ,what will ye see in the ,shulamite8 asks the ,spouse in the ,canticles1 personating the believer 7at a time1 too1 when conscious of devoted attachment to the ,lord she loved74 ,the reply is1 ,as it were the company of two armies4 7,sol4 ,song vi4 #ac47 ,sight on the one hand1 ,faith on the other4 ,the carnal mind1 which is enmity against ,god1 battling with the renewed spiritual mind1 which brings life and peace4 ,affections heaven-born1 counteracted and marred by affections earth-born4 ,the magnet would be true to its pole but for disturbing moral influences4 ,the eagle would soar1 but it is chained to the cage of corruption4 ,the believer would tread boldly on the waves1 but unbelief threatens to sink him4 ,he would fight the battles of the faith1 but there is a body of death chained to his heavenly nature1 which compels him to mingle denunciations of himself as a wretched man with the shouts of victory4#h #g ,rom4 vii4 #bc4 #h ,rom4 vii4 #bd1 #be4 ,we may imagine ,david1 when he composed this ,psalm1 wrapped in silent contemplation--the past1 the present1 and the future suggesting mingled reflections4 ,the shepherd1 the king1 the fugitive6 ,sad comment on the alternations of human life6 humbling lesson for ,god's ,anointed6 ,it furnishes him with a true estimate of the world's greatness4 ,it has taught him the utter nothingness of all here as a portion for the soul4 ,amid outward trial and inward despondency1 ,,faith looks to its only true refuge and resting-place4 ,his truant heart softened and saddened by calamity1 turns to its ,god1--,as the hart panteth after the water-brooks1 so panteth my soul after thee1 ,o ,god4 ,my soul thirsteth for ,god1 for the living ,god3 when shall ,i come and appear before ,god8 7,ver4 #a1 #b47 ,but the wave is beaten back again6 ,he remembers his sins and his sorrows1 and 7more galling to his sensitive spirit7 the taunts of ungodly scoffers4 ,my tears have been my meat day and night1 while they continually say unto me1 ,where is thy ,god8 7,ver4 #c47 ,moreover1 he is denied the solace of public ordinances4 ,he can no longer1 as once he could1 light the decaying ashes of his faith at the fires of the altar4 ,memory dwelt with chastened sadness on the hours of holy convocation4 ,when ,i remember these things1 ,i pour out my soul in me3 for ,i had gone with the multitude2 ,i went with them to the house of ,god1 with the voice of joy and praise1 with a multitude that kept holy-day4 7,ver4 #d47 ,but1 once more1 the new-born principle regains the mastery4 ,he rebukes his own unbelief1 urges renewed dependence on ,god1 and triumphs in the assurance of ,his countenance and love4 ,why art thou cast down1 ,o my soul8 and why art thou disquieted in me8 hope thou in ,god3 for ,i shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance4 7,ver4 #e47 ,but again the harp is muffled6 ,unbelief musters her ranks2 fresh remembrances of sin and sorrow crowd upon him4 ,o my ,god1 my soul is cast down within me4 7,ver4 #f47 ,faith1 however1 has its antidote at hand1 and the momentary cause of depression is removed4 ,the memory of former succours and mercies inspires with confidence for the future1 and he immediately adds1 ,i will remember ,,thee 7in this the place of my ,exile7 from the land of ,jordan1 and of the ,hermonites1 from the hill ,mizar4 ,but the storm-clouds are still wreathing his sky2--nay1 it seems as if the tempest were deepening4 ,fresh assaults of temptation are coming in upon him2--there seems no light in the cloud1 no ray in the darkness4 ,deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts2 all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me4 7,ver4 #g47 ,but again1 his own extremity is ,god's opportunity2 ,faith is seen cresting the resurgent waves4 ,lifting his voice above the storm1 he thus expresses his assurance in ,god's faithfulness1 ,yet the ,lord will command his loving-kindness in the day-time1 and in the night his song shall be with me1 and my prayer unto the ,god of my life4 7,ver4 #h47 ,nay1 he resolves in all time to come to provide against the return of seasons of guilty distrust and misgiving4 ,he dictates and transcribes the very words of a prayer to be employed as an antidote in any such recurring moments of despondency4 ,he resolves to rise above frames and feelings1 and to plant his feet on the ,rock of ,ages1 which these fluctuating billows can never shake2--,i will say unto ,god my rock1 ,why hast thou forgotten me8 why go ,i mourning because of the oppression of the enemy8 7,ver4 #i47 ,the ,old nature makes one last and final effort1 ere abandoning the conflict4 ,unbelief rallies its strength4 ,a former assault is renewed4 ,as with a sword in my bones1 mine enemies reproach me2 while they say daily unto me1 ,where is thy ,god8 7,ver4 #aj47 ,but he reverts to his prayer6 ,he adopts his own liturgy for a time of sorrow4 ,why art thou cast down1 ,o my soul8 and why art thou disquieted within me8 hope thou in ,god2 for ,i shall yet praise ,him4 7,ver4 #aa47 ,he seems to be answered while yet speaking2 for he closes with the joyful declaration1 ,who is the health of my countenance1 and my ,god4 7,ver4 #aa47 ,he had made a similar assertion in a former verse 7,ver4 #e71 ,i shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance2 but now he can add the language of triumphant assurance1 ,my ,god6 ,the conflict is ended2--sense quits the field1 and faith conquers4 ,he began the ,psalm in trouble1 he ends it with joy4 ,its notes throughout are on the minor key1 but these merge at last into a strain of triumph4 ,he began comparing himself to the stricken deer--the helpless1 breathless1 panting fugitive2--he ends it with angel's words1--with the motto and watchword in which a seraph might well glory--heaven knows no happier--,,my ,,god6 ,he looked1 says ,matthew ,henry1 upon the living ,god as his chief good1 and had set his heart upon ,him accordingly1 and was resolved to live and die by ,him2 and casting anchor thus at first1 he rides out the storm4 99 99 99 99 99 ,o child of ,god6 touchingly expressive picture have we here of the strange vicissitudes in thy history4 ,the shuttle in the web of thy spiritual life1 darting hither and thither1 weaving its chameleon hues2 or1 to adopt a more appropriate emblem1 thy heart a battle-field1 and no discharge in that war till the pilgrim-armour be exchanged for the pilgrim-rest3--sense and sin doing their utmost to quench the bivouac-fires of faith1 and give the enemy the advantage3 ay1 and they would succeed in quenching these1 did not the ,lord of pilgrims feed with the oil of ,his own grace the languishing flame4 ,sometimes1 it has been well said1 in the ,voyages of the ,soul1 we feel that we can only go by anxious soundings1--the compass itself seeming useless--not knowing our bearings1--nearing here ,christ--then perhaps the dim tolling bell amidst the thick darkness warning us to keep off4#i ,but fear not2 ,he will bring you to the haven where ye would be4 ,the voice of triumph will be heard high above the water-floods4 ,the contest may be long1 but it will not be doubtful4 ,he who rules the raging of the sea will1 in ,his own good time1 say1 ,peace1 be still1 and immediately there will be a great calm4 ,have you ever watched the career of the tiny branch or withered leaf which has been tossed into a little virgin rill on one of our high-table lands or mountain moors8 ,for a while1 in its serpentine course1 it is borne sluggishly along1 impeded by protruding moss1 or stone1 or lichen4 ,now it circles and saunters hither and thither on the lazy streamlet--now floating back towards the point of departure1 as if uncertain which direction to choose4 ,a passing breath of wind carries it to the centre1 and the buoyant rivulet sings its way joyously onward1 bearing its little burden through copse1 and birch1 and heather4 ,but again it is obstructed4 ,some deep inky pool detains it in the narrow ravine4 ,there it is sucked in1 whirled and twisted about1 chafed and tortured with the conflict of waters2 or else it lies a helpless prisoner1 immured by the rocks in their fretting caldrons4 ,but by and by1 with a new impulse it breaks away along the rapid torrent-stream1 bounding over cascade and waterfall1 home to its ocean destiny4 #i ,cheever's ,windings4 ,so it is with the soul6 ,it is often apparently the sport and captive of opposing currents4 ,it has its pools of darkness1 its eddies of unbelief1 its jagged rocks of despair1 but it will eventually clear them all4 ,all motion1 to use the words of one of the best and saintliest of the old writers on this very ,psalm 7,sibbs71 and which carry out our illustration1 ,all motion tends to rest1 and ends in it4 ,god is the centre and resting-place of the soul2 and here ,david takes up his rest1 and so let us4 ,we see that discussing of objections in the consistory of the ,soul1 settles the ,soul at last--,faith at length silencing all risings to the contrary4 ,then whatsoever times come1 we are sure of a hiding-place and a sanctuary4 ,yes6 your life1 notwithstanding all these fluctuations1 will end triumphantly4 ,it may1 as in this ,psalm1 be now a pan1 then a dirge2 now a ,miserere1 then a ,te ,deum4 ,the ,miserere and ,te ,deum may be interweaved throughout2 but the latter will close the ,life-story--the concluding strain will be the anthem of ,victory4 ,you may arrest the arrow in its flight--you may chain the waterfall1 or stay the lightning1 sooner than unsay the words of ,god1 ,he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of ,jesus ,christ4 7,phil4 i4 #f47 ,remember1 ,god does not say1 that good work is never to be impeded4 ,he has never given promise in ,scripture of an unclouded day--uninterrupted sunshine--a waveless1 stormless sea4 ,no1 the morning without clouds is a heavenly emblem4 ,the earthly one is a day1 in which the light shall neither be clear nor dark4 7,zech4 xiv4 #f47 ,the analogy of the outer world of nature1 at least under these our chequered and ever-varying skies1 teaches us this4 ,spring comes smiling1 and pours her blossoms into the lap of ,summer4 ,but the skies lower1 and the rain and battering hail descend1 and the virgin blossoms droop their heads and almost die4 ,summer again smiles and the meadows look gay2 the flowers ring merry chimes with their leaves and petals1 and ,autumn with glowing face is opening her bosom for the expected treasure4 ,but all at once drought comes with her fiery footsteps4 ,every blade and floweret1 gasping for breath1 lift their blanched eyelids to the brazen sky2 or the night-winds rock the laden branches and strew the ground4 ,thus we see it is not one unvarying1 unchecked progression1 from the opening bud to the matured fruit4 ,but every succeeding month is scarred and mutilated by drought and moisture1 wind and rain1 storm and sunshine4 ,yet1 never once has ,autumn failed to gather up her golden sheaves2 ay1 and if you ask her testimony1 she will tell that the very storm1 and wind1 and rain you dreaded as foes1 were the best auxiliaries in filling her yellow garners4 ,if the experience of any one here present be that of the deep and the water-flood--the stormy wind and tempest1 think ever of the closing words of the ,psalm1 and let them turn your mourning into dancing2 take off your sackcloth1 and gird you with gladness6 ,you may change towards ,god1 but ,he is unchanging towards you4 ,the stars may be swept from our view by intervening clouds1 but they shine bright as ever1--undimmed altar-fires in the great temple of the universe4 ,our vision may be at fault1 but not their radiance and undying glory4 ,the ,being not confined to temples made with hands1 who met this wrestler of old in the forest of ,gilead1 and poured better than ,gilead's balm into his bosom1 is the same now as ,he was then4 ,and if thou art a wrestler too1 ,he seems through the moaning of the storm to say1 ,though thou fall1 yet shalt thou not be cast down utterly1 for the ,lord upholdeth thee with his right hand4 ,my ,god6 ,oh1 if that be the last entry in the ,diary of religious experience1 be not desponding now because of present passing shadows1 but thank ,god and take courage4 ,it is written that at evening-time it shall be light4 7,zech4 xiv4 #g47 ,the sun may wade all day through murky clouds1 but he will pillow his head at night on a setting couch of vermilion and gold4 ,though ye have lien among the pots1 yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver1 and her feathers with yellow gold4#aj ,it was said by aged ,jacob1 in his prophetic death-song1 regarding that very tribe on the borders of which the royal exile now sang1 ,,gad1 a troop shall overcome him3 but he shall overcome at the last4#aa ,was not this the key-note of his present elegy8 ,faith could lift its head triumphant in the clang of battle1 amid these troops of spiritual plunderers1 and sing1 ,though an host should encamp against me1 my heart shall not fear3 though war should rise against me1 in ,,this will ,i be confident4#ab #aj ,ps4 lxviii4 #ac4 #aa ,gen4 xlix4 #ai4 #ab ,ps4 xxvii4 #c4 ,,iii4 ,a ,peculiar ,experience4 ,i ask'd the ,lord that ,i might grow ,in faith1 and love1 and every grace2 ,might more of ,his salvation know1 ,and seek more earnestly ,his face4 ',twas ,he who taught me thus to pray2 ,and ,he1 ,i trust1 has answer'd prayer1 ,but it has been in such a way ,as almost drove me to despair4 ,i hoped that in some favour'd hour ,at once ,he'd answer my request2 ,and by ,his love's constraining power1 ,subdue my sins and give me rest4 ,instead of this1 ,he made me feel ,the hidden evils of my heart2 ,and let the angry powers of hell ,assault my soul in every part4 --,cowper4 ,if we listen to ,david's harp1 we shall hear as many hearse-like harmonies as carols4--,lord ,bacon4 ,if we be either in outward affliction or in inward distress1 we may accommodate to ourselves the melancholy expressions we find here4 ,if not1 we must sympathise with those whose case they speak too plainly1 and thank ,god it is not our own case4--,matthew ,henry4 ,,iii4 ,a ,,peculiar ,,experience4 ,although this ,psalm1 in bold and striking figure1 presents a faithful miniature picture of the ,believer's life1 we must regard it as depicting an extraordinary experience at a peculiar passage of ,david's history1 and which has its counterpart still in that of many of ,god's children4 ,the writer of the ,psalm was evidently undergoing spiritual depression--what is sometimes spoken of as spiritual desertion1--that sorrow1 awful in its reality--too deep for utterance--deeper than the yawning chasm made by family bereavement--the sorrow of all sorrows1 the loss of ,god in the soul6 ,there is much caution needed in speaking of this4 ,there are causes which lead to spiritual depression which are purely physical1 arising from a diseased body1 an overstrung mind--a succession of calamities weakening and impairing the nervous system4 ,we know how susceptible are the body and mind together1 of being affected by external influences4 ,we are1 says an able analyser of human emotions1 fearfully and wonderfully made4 ,of that constitution which in our ignorance we call union of soul and body1 we know little respecting what is cause1 and what effect4 ,we would fain believe that the mind has power over the body2 but it is just as true that the body rules the mind4 ,causes apparently the most trivial--a heated room1 want of exercise--a sunless day1 a northern aspect--will make all the difference between happiness and unhappiness2 between faith and doubt2 between courage and indecision4 ,to our fancy there is something humiliating in being thus at the mercy of our animal organism4 ,we would fain find nobler causes for our emotions4#ac ,yes--many of those sighs and tears1 and morbid1 depressed feelings1 which ,christians speak of as the result of spiritual darkness and the desertion of ,god1 are merely the result of physical derangement1 the penalty often for the violation of the laws of health4 ,the atmosphere we breathe is enough to account for them4 ,they come and go--rise and fall with the mercury in the tube4 ,these are cases1 not for the spiritual1 but for the bodily physician4 ,their cure is in attendance to the usual laws and prescriptions which regulate the healthy action of the bodily functions4 #ac ,rev4 ,fred4 ,robertson's ,sermons2 ,second ,series1 p4 #he4 ,there is another class of causes which lead to spiritual depression which are partly physical and partly religious4 ,there must necessarily be depression where there is undue elation2 where the soul-structure is built on fluctuating frames and feelings1 and the religious life is made more subjective than objective4 ,many imagine1 unless they are at all times in a glow of fervour--an ecstatic frame of feeling--all must be wrong with them4#ad ,now1 there is nothing more dangerous or deceptive than a life of mere feeling2 and its most dangerous phase is a life of religious emotional excitement4 ,it is in the last degree erroneous to consider all this glowing ecstasy of frame a necessary condition of healthy spiritual life4 ,artificial excitement1 in any shape1 is perilous4 ,apart altogether from the moral and religious aspect of the question1 the tendency of the ball-room and theatre1 and a preference in reading for works of fiction1 is to make a man nauseate the plain1 commonplace work1 the occurrences and themes of this every-day world4 ,feed him on dainties and forced meats1 and he despises husks and plain fare4 ,equally true is this with regard to the life of the soul4 ,it is not fed on luscious stimulants and ecstatic experiences4 ,when it is so1 the result is every now and then a collapse2 like a child building his mimic castle too high1 the perpendicular and equilibrium are lost4 ,it totters and falls1 and he has just to begin again4 ,the dew distils1 and hangs its spangled jewels on blade and flower1 gently and in silence4 ,the rain comes down in tiny particles and soft showers1 not in drenching water-floods4 ,so the healthy ,christian holds on the even tenor of his way1 unaffected by the barometer of feeling4 ,he knows this is apt to be elevated and depressed by a thousand accidents over which he has no control4 ,his life is fed1 not from the fitful and uncertain streams issuing from the low ground of his own experience1 but from the snow-clad summits--the ,alps of ,god4 ,were he thus suffering himself to depend on the rills of his own feelings1 his brook would often be dry in summer--the season when he most needed it2 whereas the supply from the glacier-beds on which the sun shines1 is fullest in these very times of drought4 #ad ,you will not be asked in the last ,great ,day whether you had great enjoyment and much enlargement of soul here4 ,speak to that vast multitude1 which no man can number1 now around the throne4 ,ask them whether they came through much consolation and joy in the ,lord4 ,no6 through much tribulation4 ,ask them whether they were saved by their warmth of love to their ,saviour4 ,no6 but they had washed their robes1 and made them white in the blood of the ,lamb4--,miss ,plumptre's ,letters4 ,add to this1 religion is shorn of its glory when it is dwarfed into a mere thing of sentiment and feeling4 ,its true grandeur and greatness is1 when it incorporates itself with active duty1 and fulfils its best definition as not a being but a doing4 ,of nothing1 therefore1 do we require to be more jealous1 than a guilty1 unmanly1 morbid dwelling on feelings and experiences4 ,you remember ,elijah1 when he fled pusillanimous and panic-stricken from his work1 and took to a hermit-cell amid the solitudes of ,sinai4 ,we find him seated in his lonely cave1 his head drooping on his breast1 sullen thought mantling his brow1 muttering his querulous soliloquy1 ,i am left alone4 ,the voice of ,god hunts out the fugitive from duty4 ,what doest thou here1 ,elijah8 ,why in this cave1 brooding in a coward spirit1 unworthy of thee8 ,art thou to cease to work for ,me1 because the high day of excitements on the heights of ,carmel are over8 ,here is food to strengthen thy body1 and here is 'the still1 small voice' of my love to strengthen thy soul4 ,go forth to active duty4 ,leave thy cave and thy cloak behind thee4 ,take thy pilgrim-staff and scrip1 and with the consciousness of a great work in hand1 and a brief time to do it in1 arise1 and onward to ,horeb1 the mount of ,god6 7#a ,kings xix47 99 99 99 99 99 ,but having thrown out these preliminary cautions1 the question occurs3 ,are there no cases of spiritual depression or desertion1 arising purely from spiritual causes8 ,we answer1 ,yes4 ,the ,bible recognises such ,spiritual darkness--absence of all spiritual comfort and joy--is no figment of man's theological creed4 ,it is a sad and solemn verity--the experience1 too1 of ,god's own children4 ,who is among you that feareth the ,lord1 that obeyeth the voice of his servant1 that walketh in darkness1 and hath no light8 7,isa4 l4 #aj47 ,oh1 says the afflicted patriarch of ,uz1 that ,i were as in months past1 as in the days when ,god preserved me2 when his candle shined upon my head1 and when by his light ,i walked through darkness4 7,job xxix4 #b1 #c47 ,in my prosperity1 is the testimony of ,david1 at a later period of his life1 ,i said1 ,i shall never be moved4 ,lord1 by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong3 thou didst hide thy face1 and ,i was troubled4 7,ps4 xxx4 #e-g47 ,i will rise now1 and go about the city in the streets1 and in the broad ways ,i will seek him whom my soul loveth3 ,i sought him1 but ,i found him not4444 ,my beloved had withdrawn himself1 and was gone3 my soul failed when he spake3 ,i sought him1 but ,i could not find him2 ,i called him1 but he gave me no answer4 7,sol4 ,song iii4 #b1 v4 #f47 ,can we forget a more awful and impressive example8 ,,one soaring above the reach of all grovelling human experiences1 but yet who tells us1 in ,his bitter ,eloi cry1 that even ,,he knew what it was to be ,god-deserted and forsaken6 ,are there any whose eyes trace these pages who have ever undergone such a season8 or it may be are undergoing it now8 ,i stop not to inquire as to the cause2--indulged sin1 omitted or carelessly performed duty1 neglect of prayer1 worldly conformity4#ae ,are you feelingly alive1 painfully conscious that your love1 like that of many1 has waxed cold2--are you mourning that you have not the nearness to the ,mercy-seat that once you enjoyed1--not the love of your ,bibles1 and ordinances1 and sacraments that you once had1--that a heavy cloud mantles your spiritual horizon1--,god's countenance1 not what once it was1 irradiated with a ,father's smiles1--nor heaven what once it seemed1 a second home8 #ae ,in the time of need ,he hides ,himself often1 and seems to have forgotten me4 ,tears have thus been my meat1 because of their saying unto my soul1 ',where is now thy ,god8' ,but ,i am bound by all the experienced freeness and riches of the ,redeemer's grace to say1 that when ,he hides ,himself from me1 it is not because ,he has forgotten me1 but because ,i have been forgetting ,him4--,hewitson4 ,o thou afflicted1 tossed with tempest1 not comforted6 do not despond4 ,in these very sighings and moanings of your downcast spirit1 there are elements for hope and comfort1 not for despair4 ,they are the evidences and indications that the spark1 though feeble1 is not quenched--that the pulse1 though languid1 still beats--that faith1 though like a grain of mustard-seed1 is still germinating4 ,o thou of little faith1 wherefore dost thou doubt8 ,it is that very shadow that has now come athwart your soul1 and which you so bitterly mourn1 which tells of sunshine4 ,as it is the shadow which enables us to read the hours on the dial1 so is it in the spiritual life4 ,it is because of these shadows on the soul's dial-face that we can infer the shining of a better ,sun4 ,the wicked have no bands in their 7spiritual7 death4 ,their life has been nothing but shadow2 they cannot therefore mourn the loss of a sunshine they never felt or enjoyed4 ,well has it been said1 ,when the refreshing dews of grace seem to be withheld1 and we are ready to say1 ',our hope is lost1 ,god hath forgotten to be gracious'--this is that furnace in which one that is not a child of ,god never was placed4 ,for ,satan takes good care not to disquiet his children4 ,he has no fire for their souls on this side everlasting burnings2 his fatal teaching ever is1 ,peace1 peace6#af ,but what1 desponding one1 is1 or ought to be1 thy resort8 ,go6 exile in spirit--go1 like that royal mourner amid the oak-thickets of ,gilead6 ,brood no more in unavailing sorrow and with burning tears4 ,thou mayest1 like him1 have much to depress thy spirit4 ,black and crimson sins may have left their indelible stain on the page of memory4 ,in aching heart-throbs1 thou mayest be heaving forth the bitter confession1 ,mine iniquities have separated between me and my ,god4 ,but go like him6 take down thy silent harp4 ,its strings may be corroded with rust4 ,they may tell the touching story of a sad estrangement4 ,go to the quiet solitude of thy chamber4 ,seek out the unfrequented path of prayer2--choked it may be with the weeds of forgetfulness and sloth4 ,cast thyself on thy bended knees2 and1 as the wounded deer bounds past thee 7emblem of thine own bleeding heart71 wake the echoes of thy spirit with the penitential cry1 ,as the hart panteth after the water-brooks1 so panteth my soul after thee1 ,o ,god6 #af ,miss ,plumtre's ,letters4 ,,contents ,,of ,,the ,,psalm4 ,i4 ,the ,hart ,panting4 ,oh1 would ,i were as free to rise ,as leaves on autumn's whirlwind borne1 ,the arrowy light of sunset skies1 ,or sound--or rays--or star of morn1 ,which meets in heaven at twilight's close1 ,or aught which soars uncheck'd and free1 ,through earth and heaven1 that ,i might lose ,myself in finding ,thee6 ,o mysterious ,jesus1 teach us ,thy works and ,thy plans4 ,let our hearts pant after ,thee as the hart after the water-brooks4 ,create a thirst which nothing shall satisfy but the fountain of eternal love4 ,see the velocity with which the needle flees to the magnet when it gets within distance2 so shall we hasten to our ,magnet--our ,beloved--as we approach ,him4--,lady ,powerscourt's ,letters4 ,as the hart panteth after the water-brooks1 so panteth my soul after thee1 ,o ,god4--,verse #a4 ,i4 ,,the ,,hart ,,panting4 ,we have pictured1 in a preceding chapter1 the uncrowned ,monarch of ,israel seated1 pensive and sad1 amid the willows by the water-courses2 or wandering forth1 amid the deepening twilight-shadows1 with the roll of ,jordan at his side1 perhaps1 like his great ancestor1 to wrestle with ,god until the breaking of the day4 ,we have already adverted to the simple incident which arrested his attention4 ,a breathless tenant of the forest bounded past him to quench its thirst in the neighbouring river4 ,that unconscious child of nature furnishes the key-note of his song4 ,let us sit by the banks1 as the ,exile takes down his harp1 and thus sings--,,as ,,the ,,hart ,,panteth ,,after ,,the ,,water-,,brooks1 ,,so ,,panteth ,,my ,,soul ,,after ,,thee1 ,o ,,god4 ,god is the only satisfying portion of the soul4 ,every theory of human happiness is defective and incomplete which falls short of the aspirations of our immortal natures4 ,born with capacities for the infinite1 man naturally spurns the finite4 ,no satellite1 with its borrowed light1 will compensate for the loss of the sun4 ,you may as well expect the caged wild beast to be happier within the iron bars of his den than roaming lord of the forest1 as for the human spirit to be content with the present and the finite as a substitute for the immortal and the infinite6 ,the water-brooks alone could slake the thirst of that roe on the mountains of ,gilead4 ,you might have offered it choicest pastures4 ,you might have bid it roam the sunniest glades of the forest1 or repose under the majestic shadow of the monarch-oaks of ,bashan2 it would have spurned them all2 and1 with fleet foot1 have bounded down the valley in search of the stream4 ,so with the soul4 ,nothing but the stream flowing from the ,everlasting ,hills will satisfy it4 ,you may tempt a man1 as he is hurrying on his immortal way1 with the world's pastures1--you may hold out to him the golden sheaves of riches1--you may detain him amid the sunny glades of pleasure1 or on the hill-tops of fame 7and he is but too willing for a while to linger7--but satisfy him they cannot6 ,when his nobler nature acquires its rightful ascendancy he will spurn them all4 ,brushing each one in succession away1 as the stag does the dewy drops of the morning1 he will say--,all are insufficient6 ,i wish them not4 ,i have been mocked by their failure4 ,i have found that each has a lie in its right hand2--it is a poor counterfeit--a shadowy figure of the true4 ,i want the fountain of living waters--,i want the ,infinite of ,knowledge1 ,goodness1 ,truth1 ,love6 ,in the ,,lord put ,i my trust3 why say ye to my soul1 ,flee as a bird to your mountain8#ag #ag ,psalm xi4 #a4 ,the fact is1 it is the very grandeur of the soul which leads it thus to pant after ,god4 ,small things satisfy a small capacity1 but what is made receptive of the vast and glorious can only be satisfied with great things4 ,the mind of the child is satisfied with the toy or the bauble2 the mind of the untutored savage with bits of painted glass or tinsel2 but the man1 the sage1 the philosopher1 desiderate higher possessions1 purer knowledge1 nobler themes of thought and objects of ambition4 ,some insects are born for an hour1 and are satisfied with it4 ,a summer's afternoon is the duration of existence allotted to myriads of tiny ephemera4 ,in their case1 youth and age are crowded into a few passing minutes4 ,the descending sun witnesses their birth and death2--the lifetime of other animals would be to them an immortality4 ,the soul1 being infinite and unlimited in its capacities1 has correspondingly high aspirations4 ,vain would be the attempt to fill up a yawning gulf by throwing into it a few grains of sand4 ,but not more vain or ineffectual than try to answer the deep yearnings of the human spirit by the seen and the temporal4 ,yes6 on all the world's fountains1 drink at them as you may1 thirst again is written4 ,of the world's mountains1 climb them as you may1 you will never say1 ,i have reached the coveted summit4 ,it is enough4 ,men go sighing on1 drinking their rivers of pleasure and climbing their mountains of vanity4 ,they feel all the while some undefined1 inarticulate1 nameless longing after a satisfying good2 but it is a miserable travestie to say that it has been found1 or can be found1 in anything here4 ,who will shew us any good8 will still be the cry of the groping seeker till he has learned to say1 ,lord1 lift ,,thou upon me the light of thy countenance4 ,we know how hard and difficult it is to convince of these sublime verities4 ,the soul1 even in its hours of trouble and deep conviction1 is like a castaway from shipwreck1 who sees from his raft-planks something cresting the waves4 ,he imagines it an island6 ,as he nears it1 he fancies he sees purple flowers drooping over the solid rock1 and the sea-birds nestling in the crevices4 ,but it is only an aggregate of withered leaves and rotten branches1 which the receding tide has tossed together1 the wayward freak of old ocean4 ,all are wanderers gone astray ,each in his own delusions2 they are lost ,in chase of fancied happiness1 still woo'd ,and never won4 ,dream after dream ensues2 ,and still they dream that they shall still succeed1 ,and still are disappointed4 ,rings the world ,with the vain stir4 ,i sum up half mankind1 ,and add two-thirds of the remaining half1 ,and find the total of their hopes and fears ,dreams1 empty dreams4#ah--;,cowper's ,task4 #ah ,i was at the very zenith of earthly happiness4 ,on returning from the ball1 ,i took a hasty review of the evening ,i had passed as ,i lay sleepless upon my pillow4 ,the glitter--the music--the dance--the excitement--the attention--the pleasure--all passed before me4 ,but1 oh6 ,i felt a want ,i could not describe4 ,i sighed1 and1 throwing my arm over my head1 whispered to myself these expressive words1 ',is this all8'--,mrs ,winslow1 ,life4 ,let him who would solve this great problem of ,happiness go to that parable of nature--the hunted ,stag seeking the water-brooks1 the thirsty soul seeking its ,god4 ,god is the home of the soul1 and he is away from home who pitches his tent and weaves his heart-affections around anything short of ,him4 ,who has not heard of home-sickness--the desolate feelings of the lonely stranger in a strange land8 ,let affection1 and friendship1 and pity do what they may to alleviate the pang of distance and separation1 though beaming faces be around1 and hands of love and sympathy be extended1 still will the heart 7despite of all7 be roaming the old hallowed haunts1 climbing in thought the hills of childhood1 gazing on the old village church with its festoons of ivy1 seated under the aged elm1 or listening to the music of the passing brook and the music of voices sweeter and lovelier than all6 ,the soul is that stranger1 dwelling in the tents of ,kedar1 and panting for ,heaven and ,god4 ,its language is1 ,i am not at home1 ,i am a stranger here4 ,manifold1 too1 are the voices in this the land of its exile1 whispering1 ,arise ye and depart1 for this is ,,not your rest6#ai #ai ,micah ii4 #aj4 ,you may have seen in our mountain glens1 in the solemn twilight1 birds winging their way to their nests4 ,there may be lovely bowers1 gardens of fragrance and beauty1 close by1--groves inviting to sweetest melody1 ,nature's consecrated haunts of song4 ,but they tempt them not4 ,their nests--their homes--are in yonder distant rock1 and thither they speed their way6 ,so with the soul4 ,the painted glories of this world will not satisfy it4 ,there is no rest in these for its weary wing and wailing cry4 ,it goes singing up and home to ,god4 ,it has its nest in the crevices of the ,rock of ,ages4 ,when detained in the nether valley1 often is the warbling note heard1 ,oh that ,i had wings like a dove6 for then would ,i flee away1 and be at rest4 ,and when the flight has been made from the finite to the infinite--from the lower valleys of sense to the hills of faith--from the creature to the ,creator--from man to ,god1--as we see it folding its buoyant pinion and sinking into the eternal clefts1 we listen to the song1 ,return unto thy rest1 ,o my soul6 ,reader6 may this flight be yours4 ,seek ye the ,lord while ,he may be found6 ,the creature may change1 ,he cannot4 ,the creature must die1 ,he is eternal4 ,o ,god1 thou art my ,god2 early will ,i seek ,,thee3 my soul thirsteth for ,,thee1 my flesh longeth for ,,thee in a dry and thirsty land1 where no water is4444 ,because ,thy loving-kindness is better than life1 my lips shall praise ,thee4 7,ps4 lxiii47 ,,ii4 ,the ,hart ,wounded4 ,i was a stricken deer1 that left the herd ,long since4 ,with many an arrow deep infix'd ,my panting side was charged1 when ,i withdrew1 ,to seek a tranquil death in distant shades4 ,there was ,i found by ,one who had ,himself ,been hurt by th' archers4 ,in ,his side ,he bore1 ,and in ,his hands and feet1 the cruel scars4 ,with gentle force soliciting the darts1 ,he drew them forth1 and heal'd1 and bade me live6 --,cowper4 ,it was in this extremity it occurred to her that1 in the deficiency of all hope in creatures1 there might be hope and help in ,god4 ,borne down by the burdens of a hidden providence 7a providence which she did not then love1 because she did not then understand it7 she yielded to the pressure that was upon her1 and began to look to ,him in whom alone there is true assistance4--,madame ,guyon's ,life1 p4 #ch4 ,as the hart panteth after the water-brooks1 so panteth my soul after thee1 ,o ,god4--,verse #a4 ,,ii4 ,the ,hart ,wounded4 ,are we not warranted to infer that it was the wounded stag which ,david now saw1 or pictured he saw1 seeking the brooks8--the hart hit by the archers1 with blood-drops standing on its flanks1 and its eye glazed with faintness1 exhaustion1 and death8 ,but for these wounds it would never have come to the ,valley4 ,it would have been nestling still up in its native heath--the thick furze and cover of the mountain heights of ,gilead4 ,but the shaft of the archer had sped with unerring aim2 and1 with distended nostril and quivering limb1 it hastens to allay the rage of its death-thirst4 ,picture of ,david1 ay1 and of many who have been driven to drink of that river1 the streams whereof make glad the city of ,god4 ,they are wounded spirits2 the arrow festering in their souls1 and drawing their life-blood4 ,faint1 trembling1 forlorn1 weary1 they have left the world's high ground--the heights of vanity1 and indifference1 and self-righteousness1 and sin--and have sought the lowly ,valley of humiliation4 ,what are some of these arrows8 ,there are arrows from the quiver of ,,man1 and arrows from the quiver of ,,god4 ,the arrows of man are often the cruellest of all4 ,lo1 the wicked bend their bow1 they make ready their arrow upon the string1 that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart4 7,ps4 xi4 #b47 ,,envy is an archer4 ,his shaft is dipped in gall and wormwood4 ,,jealousy is a bowman1 whose barbed weapons cannot stand the prosperity of a rival4 ,,revenge has his quiver filled with keen points of steel1 that burn to retaliate the real or imagined injury4 ,,malice is an archer that seeks his prey in ambush4 ,he lurks behind the rock4 ,he inflicts his wanton mischief--irreparable injury--on the absent or innocent4 ,,contempt is a bowman of soaring aim4 ,he looks down with haughty1 supercilious scorn on others4 ,the teeth of such are spears and arrows1 and their tongue a sharp sword4 7,ps4 lvii4 #d47 ,,deceit4--,he is1 in these our days1 a huntsman of repute--a modern ,nimrod--with gilded arrows in his quiver1 and a bugle1 boasting great things1 slung at his girdle4 ,he makes his target the unsuspecting2 decoys them1 with siren look1 within his toils1 and leaves them1 wounded and helpless1 on the mountains of prey6 ,deliver my soul1 ,o ,lord1 from lying lips1 and from a deceitful tongue4 ,what shall be given unto thee8 or what shall be done unto thee1 thou false tongue8 ,sharp arrows of the mighty1 with coals of juniper4 7,ps4 cxx4 #b-d47 ,but there are arrows also from the quiver of ,,god4 ,the arrows of the ,almighty1 says ,job1 are within me1 the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit4 7,job vi4 #d47 ,he hath bent ,his bow1 says ,jeremiah1 and set me as a mark for the arrow4 ,he hath causd the arrows of ,his quiver to enter into my reins4 7,lam4 iii4 #ab1 #ac47 ,and who will not breathe the prayer of the ,gilead ,exile at another time8--,let me fall into the hands of ,god1 for great are ,,his mercies6 ,faithful are the wounds of ,,this friend4 7#b ,sam4 xxiv4 #ad2 ,prov4 xxvii4 #f47 ,we need not stop to enumerate particularly these arrows4 ,there is the blanched arrow of sickness1 the rusted arrow of poverty1 the lacerating arrow of bereavement1 stained and saturated with tears1 and feathered from our own bosoms6 ,there is the arrow1 too1 7though of a different kind17 of ,god's own blessed ,word1 quick and powerful4 ,thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the ,king's enemies4 7,ps4 xlv4 #e47 ,yet1 blessed be ,god1 these are often arrows which wound only to heal2 or rather1 which1 from the wounds they create1 send the bleeding1 panting1 thirsting soul to seek the waters of comfort in ,god himself4 ,suffering one6 be thankful for thy wounds4 ,but for these shafts thou mightest have been1 at this moment1 sleeping on the mountain heights of self-righteousness1 or worldliness1 or sin1 with no thought of thy soul2 the streams of salvation disowned2 forsaking1 and continuing to forsake1 the ,fountain of ,living ,waters4 ,let me ask1 ,has this been the result of thy woundings8 ,have they led thee from the broken 7leaky7 cistern to say1 ,all my springs are in ,,thee8 ,remember affliction1 worldly calamity1 bereavement1 have a twofold effect4 ,it is a solemn alternative6 ,they may drive thee nearer1 they may drive thee farther from1 thy ,god4 ,they may drive thee down to the gushing stream1 or farther up the cold1 freezing mountain-side4 ,the wounded hart of this ,psalm1 on receiving the sting of the arrow1 might have plunged only deeper and deeper into the toils of the huntsmen1 or the solitudes of the forest4 ,it might have gone with its pining eye1 and broken heart1 and bleeding wound1 to bury itself amid the withered leaves4 ,how many there are whose afflictions seem to lead to this sad consequence2 who1 when mercies and blessings are removed1 abandon themselves to sullen and morbid fretfulness2 who1 instead of bowing submissive to the hand that wounds and is able to heal1 seem to feel as if they were denuded of their rights6 ,their language is the bitter reproach of ,jonah--,i do well to be angry1 even unto death4 ,muffling themselves in hardened unbelief1 their wretched solace is that of despair--,it is better for me to die than to live4 ,blessed is the man that ,,endureth temptation1 not who rushes away to pine1 and bleed1 and die2--or to feed still on husks and the garbage of the wilderness1 but who makes the nobler resolve1 ,i will arise and go to my ,father4 ,blessed is the man whose cry1 like that of the child1 is answered by his heavenly ,parent bending over the cradle of his sorrow2--who feels1 as the ,psalmist did1 that his gracious ,father and ,god is never so near him as in a time of trial4 ,when my spirit was overwhelmed1 ,,then ,,thou knewest my path4 ,the bird of the desert is said to bury its head in the sand on the approach of its foes1 and to abandon itself to destruction2 but blessed is the man who rather is like the bird of the grove1 the first twigs of whose nest have been ruthlessly pulled to pieces by the hand of violence4 ,hovering for a while over her pillaged home1 she fills the wood with her plaintive lament1 then soars away from the haunt of the destroyer to begin a fresh one1 in a place of safety1 on the top branch of some cedar of ,god6 ,such was the case with ,david on the occasion of this ,psalm4 ,he had read to him the most touching homily the world could read on the precarious tenure of earthly blessings4 ,his sceptre1 his crown1 his family1 were like the bubbles on that foaming stream on which he gazed1 dancing their little moment on its surface1 then gone1 and gone for ever4 ,is he to abandon himself to an ignoble despair8 ,is he to conclude that the ,lord has made him a target on which to exhaust ,his quiver--that ,he has forgotten to be gracious8 ,is he to join marauding chiefs beyond the ,jordan1 savage freebooters--become a mountain adventurer on these ,gentile borders1 and forget ,zion and ,zion's ,god8 ,no6 the earthly crown may fade1 but the homeless1 uncrowned1 unsceptred monarch has a better home and a better ,king above2 invisible walls and battlements1 better than all the trenches and moats of an earthly fortress1 encompass the wanderer4 ,with his eye on these1 thus he weaves his warrior song--,i will say of the ,lord1 ,he is my rock1 and my fortress1 and my deliverer2 my ,god1 my strength1 in whom ,i will trust2 my buckler1 and the horn of my salvation1 and my high tower4 7,ps4 xviii4 #b47 ,reader6 let me ask you1 in closing this chapter1 are you panting for ,god8 ,this is not the way--this is not the history of most4 ,they are panting1 but not for ,god6 ,they are panting up the hill1 like ,sisyphus1 with their huge stone4 ,ambition is panting up the hill--no time to take a breath4 ,pleasure is panting up the hill--pursuing her butterfly existence--a phantom-chase--rushing from flower to flower1 extracting all the luscious sweets she can4 ,fame is panting up the hill1 blowing her trumpet before her1 eager to erect her own monument on the coveted apex4 ,mammon is pushing up the hill with his panting team1 to erect the temple of riches4 ,multitudes of hapless wayfarers in the same reckless scramble have tumbled into crevices1 and are crying for help4 ,mammon's wheels are locked1--his treasure-chests have fallen into the mire2--and yet1 on he goes1 driving his jaded steeds over the poor1 and weak1 and helpless--ay1 those that assisted him to load before he started at the mountain base4 ,he must gain the top at all hazards as best he may2 and he will be crowned a hero1 too1 and lauded for his feat6 ,ah6 strange that men should still be pursuing that phantom-chase4 ,or1 rather1 strange that they should live so immeasurably beneath the grandeur of their own destiny2 rasping the shallows when they should be out in the deep sea2 furling and warping the sails of immortality1 instead of having every available yard of canvas spread to the breeze of heaven4 ,these objects of earthly1 perishable pursuit1 may do when the world is bright1 the heart unwounded1 the eye undimmed4 ,these may do when the sun shines unclouded in our firmament1 when our fields are waving1 when fortune is weaving her golden web1 and the bark of existence with its white sails is holding its way through summer seas4 ,these may do when the home circle is unbroken2 when we miss no loved face1 when we mark no silent voice1 no vacant chair4 ,but when the muffled drum takes the place of life's joyous music2--when our skies are robed in sackcloth1 when ,nature takes on its hue of ashen paleness2 when every flower1 seared and frost-bitten1 seems to droop its head in sadness and sorrow1 and hide its tears amid withered leaves and blighted stems1 exuding only the fragrance of decay6--what then8 ,the prophet's voice takes up the lesson--,the voice said1 ,cry2 and he said1 ,what shall ,i cry8 ,all flesh is grass1 and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass6 ,poor trifler that thou art6 to be so long mocked and deceived by a dead and dying world2 desolate1 friendless1 hopeless1 portionless2 a vessel driven from its moorings1 out unpiloted on a tempestuous sea6 ,,but there is a haven for the tempest-tossed4 ,the ,saviour thou hast long despised and rejected1 is a provided harbour for such as thee4 ,a ,,man shall be an hiding-place from the wind1 a covert from the tempest1 as rivers of water in a dry place1 the shadow of a great rock in a weary land4 7,isaiah xxxii4 #b47 ,art thou panting after the streams of salvation8 ,the ,shepherd who feeds ,his flock by these still waters thus addresses thee--,,let ,,him ,,that ,,is ,,athirst1 ,,come4 ,,athirst6 who is not athirst8 ,it is the attribute of universal humanity6 ,who does not feel that this world is presenting us with muddy streams and broken1 leaky cisterns8 ,who does not feel1 in their moments of deep and calm reflection1 when we are brought face to face with the great enigma of existence1 that the world is serving up faded flowers instead of those redolent with imperishable fragrance1 and glowing with unfading bloom8 ,friendless one6--thou who art standing alone like a solitary tree in the forest whom the woodman's axe has spared--thy compeers cut down at thy side--,,come6 ,child of calamity6--the chill hand of penury laid on thine earthly comforts--the widow's cruise fast failing1 her staff of bread diminishing--,,come6 ,child of bereavement6--the pillars in thy heart-shrine crumbling to decay1 thy head bowed like a bulrush--thou who knowest that fortune may again replace and replenish her dismantled walls1 but that nothing can reanimate thy still marble1 or refill the vacant niche in thy heart of hearts--,,come6 ,prodigal6--wanderer from ,god1 exile from peace1 roaming the forest-haunts of sin1 plunging deeper and deeper into their midnight of ruin and despair--has an arrow1 either from the quiver of man1 or of ,god1 wounded thy heart8 ,art thou1 in thy agony1 seeking rest and finding none1--having the gnawing feeling of dissatisfaction with all created things1 and an undefined longing for a solace they cannot give8 ,yes6 for thee1 too1 for thy gaping1 bleeding wound there is balm in ,gilead1 and a ,physician there4 ,i repeat1 ,jesus this day stands by the glorious streams of ,his own purchased salvation1 and cries1 saying--,if any man ,,thirst1 let him come unto me and drink6 ,yea1 ,lord6 be it yours to reply--,lord1 ,i come6 thirsty1 faint1 forlorn1 wounded1 weary6 ,i come1 'just as ,i am1 without one plea4' ,thou art all ,i need1 all ,i require1 in sickness and health1 in joy and in sorrow1 in life and in death1 in time and through eternity4 ,the snow-clad hills may cease to feed the brooks2--that sun may cease to shine1 or nature grow weary of his loving beams2--that moon may cease on her silver lyre1 night by night1 to discourse to the listening earth2--the birds may become mute at the voice of the morning2--flowers may droop1 instead of ringing their thousand bells at the jubilant step of summer2--the gasping pilgrim may rush from the stream1 and prefer the fiery furnace-glow of the desert sands1--but 'this ,god shall be my ,god for ever and ever2' and1 even when death is sealing my eyes1 and the rush of darkness is coming over my spirit1 even then will ,i take up the old exile strain--the great sigh of weary humanity--and blend its notes with the song of heaven--',,as ,,the ,,hart ,,panteth ,,after ,,the ,,water-,,brooks1 ,,so ,,panteth ,,my ,,soul ,,after ,,thee1 ,o ,,god4' ,,iii4 ,the ,living ,god4 ,hear me6 ,to ,thee my soul in suppliance turneth2 ,like the lorn pilgrim on the sands accursed4 ,for life's sweet waters1 ,god6 my spirit yearneth3 ,give me to drink4 ,i perish here of thirst4 ,oh1 it is ,his own self ,i pant after4 ,fellowship--living1 constant1 intimate fellowship with ,him1 is the cry ,he often hears from the desolate void of my unloving heart4 ,how do ,i loathe the sin which makes the atmosphere so misty--the clouds so thick and dark6--,life of ,adelaide ,newton1 p4 #bdf4 ,my soul thirsteth for ,god1 for the living ,god3 when shall ,i come and appear before ,god8--,verse #b4 ,,iii4 ,,the ,,living ,,god4 ,in the two former chapters1 we listened to the first sigh of the exile--the first strain of his plaintive song4 ,it was the groping and yearning of his soul after ,god1 as the alone object of happiness4 ,you may have watched the efforts of the plant1 tossed amid rack and weed in some dark cellar1 to climb to the light4 ,like the captive in the dungeon longing to cool his fevered brow in the air of heaven1 its sickly leaves seem to struggle and gasp for breath4 ,they grope1 with their blanched colours1 towards any chink or crevice or grated window1 through which a broken beam is admitted4 ,or garden flowers choked amid rank luxuriance1 or under the shade of tree or wall1 how ambitious to assert their freedom1 and pay homage to the parent sun1 lifting their pendant leaves or petals as a target for his golden arrows6 ,the soul1 away from the great ,sun of its being1 frets and pines and mourns6 ,every affection droops in languor and sadness when that light is away4 ,its abortive efforts to obtain happiness in other and meaner joys1 and its dissatisfaction with them1 is itself a testimony to the strength and loftiness of its aspiration--a manifesto of its real grandeur6 ,the human affections must be fastened on something6 ,they are like the clinging ivy which creeps along the ground1 and grasps stones1 rocks1 weeds1 and unsightly ruins1 if it can find nothing else on which to fix its tendrils2 but when it reaches the root of the tree1 or base of the castle wall1 it spurns its grovelling existence1 and climbs its upward way till it hangs in graceful festoons from the topmost branch or turret4 ,we are to contemplate1 now1 a second breathing of this exiled supplicant--a new element in his ,god-ward aspiration4 ,my soul thirsteth for ,god1 ,,for ,,the ,,living ,,god3 when shall ,i come and appear before ,god8 ,this is no mere repetition of the former verse4 ,it invests the believer's relationship to the object of his faith and hope with a new and more solemn interest4 ,for ,david's present condition and experience in the land of his exile--the feeling of utter isolation throbbing through the pulses of his soul1--there were required some extraordinary and peculiar sources of comfort4 ,the old conventional dogmas of theology1 at such seasons1 are insufficient4 ,who has not felt1 in some great crisis of their spiritual being1 similar to his1 when all the hopes and joys of existence rock and tremble to their foundations2 when1 by some sudden reverse of fortune1 the pride of life becomes a shattered ruin2 or1 by some appalling bereavement1 the hope and solace of the future is blighted and withered like grass2--who has not been conscious of a longing desire to know more of this infinite ,god1 who holds the balances of ,life and ,death in ,his hands1 and who has come forth from the inscrutable recesses of ,his own mysterious being1 and touched us to the quick8 ,what of ,his character1 ,his attributes1 ,his ways6 ,there is a feeling1 such as we never had before1 to draw aside the veil which screens the ,invisible4 ,it may be faith in its feeblest form1 awaking as from a dream2 lisping the very alphabet of ,divine truth1 and asking1 in broken and stammering accents1 ,does ,god really live8--,is it1 after all1 ,deity1 or is it ,chance1 that is ruling the world8 ,is this great ,being near1 or is ,he distant8 ,does ,he take cognizance of all events in this world2 or are minute1 trivial occurrences1 contingent on the accidents of nature or the caprice of man8 ,is ,he ,,the ,,living ,,one8 ,god1 a distant abstraction shrouded in the awful mystery of ,his own attributes1 will not do2--we must realise ,his presence2 our cry1 at such a time1 is that of the old patriarch at the brook ,jabbok1 or of his descendant at the brooks of ,gilead--,tell me thy ,,name4#bj ,is it merely love1 or is it the loving ,,one8 ,is it omnipotence1 or is it the almighty ,,one8 ,is it some mysterious1 impalpable principle1 some property of matter or attribute of mind--or is it a personal ,jehovah1 one capable of loving and of being loved8 ,have the lips of incarnate truth and wisdom deceived us by a mere figure of speech1 when1 in the great ,liturgy of the ,church universal1 in the prayer which is emphatically ,his own1 ,he hath taught us1 in its opening words1 to say1 ,our ,,father which art in heaven1 hallowed be thy ,,name6 #bj ,gen4 xxxii4 #bh4 ,how earnestly do the saints in former times1 and especially in their seasons of trial1 cleave to the thought of this personal presence2 in other words1 a thirst for the living ,god6 ,what was the solace of the patriarch ,job1 as he was stretched on his bed of sackcloth and ashes1 when other friends had turned against him in bitter derision1 and were loading him with their reproaches8 ,it was the realisation of a living defender who would vindicate his integrity1--,i know that my ,redeemer liveth4 7,job xix4 #be47 ,god appeared to ,moses in a burning bush4 ,the symbol taught him encouraging truths2--that the ,hebrew race1 after all their experience of fiery trial1 would come forth unscathed and unconsumed4 ,but the shepherd-leader desired more than this3 he craved the assurance of a ,,living ,,god--an ever-present guardian1 a pillar to guide by day1 and a column of defence by night4 ,it was the truth that was borne to his ear from the desert's fiery oracle4 ,there could be no grander watchword for himself1 or for the enslaved people1--,god said unto ,moses1 ,i ,,am ,,that ,i ,,am6 ,no comment is subjoined2--nothing to diminish the glory of that majestic utterance4 ,the ,almighty ,speaker does not qualify it by adding1 ,i am light1 power1 wisdom1 glory2 but ,he simply declares ,his being and existence--,he unfolds ,himself as the living ,god6 ,it is enough6 ,elijah is in his cave at ,horeb4 ,all nature is convulsed around him4 ,the rocks are rent with an earthquake4 ,the sky is lurid with lightnings4 ,fragments of these awful precipices are torn and dislocated by the fury of the tempest1 and go thundering down the ,valley4 ,nature testifies to the presence1 and majesty1 and power of her ,god3 but ,he is not in any of these6 ,the ,lord is not there6 ,the ,prophet waits for a further disclosure4 ,he is not satisfied with seeing the skirts of ,god's garment4 ,he must see the hand1 and hear 7though it be in gentle whispers7 the voice of ,him who sits behind the elements ,he has awoke from their sleep4 ,hence this formed the closing scene in that wild drama of the desert4 ,after the fire there came a still small voice4 ,the ,lord is there6 ,he is proclaiming ,himself the prophet's ,god6 with him in the depths of that howling wilderness1 as ,he had been with him on the heights of ,carmel4 ,and it was so1 when ,elijah heard it1 that he wrapped his face in his mantle1 and went out1 and stood in the entering in of the cave4 7#a ,kings xix4 #ab1 #ac47 ,shall we go for illustration of the same truth to ,new ,testament and gospel times8 ,the disciples are tossed with storm in the ,sea of ,tiberias4 ,the voice of a living ,saviour proclaims ,his name4 ,it is ,i 7lit4 ,i ,,am72 be not afraid6 ,the assurance1 in that night of gloom and tempest1 lulls their trembling spirits to rest4 ,john1 in ,patmos1 beheld1 in a vision of surpassing brightness1 his ,lord arrayed in the lustres of exalted humanity4 ,overpowered by the glory which unexpectedly burst upon him1 he fell at ,his feet as one dead4 ,his misgivings are stilled2 his confidence and hope restored1 by the proclamation of a living ,saviour-,god4 ,i am ,he that ,,liveth 7lit4 ,,the ,,living ,,one7--and a similar comforting symbol was given him in a subsequent vision1 when he saw that same covenant angel ascending from the east1 having the seal of the ,living ,god4 7,rev4 i4 #ah1 and vii4 #b47 ,this was the living ,jehovah whom ,david now sought in the forest-depths of ,gilead4 ,he goes out to that solitude to meditate and pray4 ,but it is no dream of earthly conquest that occupies him4 ,deeper thoughts have taken possession of his soul than the loss of a kingdom and the forfeiture of a crown6 ,a fiercer battle engrosses his spirit than any mortal conflict4 ,let me have ,god1 he seems to say1 as the strength of my heart and my portion for ever1 and ,i heed not other portions besides4 ,at another time that lover of nature would have caught inspiration from the glories of the impressive sanctuary around4 ,he would have sung of the water-brooks at his side1 the trees bending in adoration1 the rocky gorges through which ,jordan fretted his tortuous way1 the everlasting hills of ,hermon and ,lebanon1--the silent guardians of the scene1--the wild beasts of the forest creeping forth and seeking their meat from ,god4 ,but now he has but one thought--one longing--,,thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey4 7,ps4 lxxvi4 #d47 ,none was more dependent on the realised consciousness of the ,divine favour than he4 ,his ,psalms seem to utter the language of one who lived in ,god's presence1 and to whom the withdrawal of that endearing intercourse and communion would be death indeed4 ,his expressions1 in these holy breathings of his soul to the ,father of spirits1 seem like those of one loving friend to another4 ,god1 the abstraction of the ,philosopher1 has no place in his creed4 ,he speaks of the ,lord thinking upon him1 putting his tears into ,his bottle1 guiding him with ,his eye1 ,his right hand upholding him1 he himself rejoicing under the shadow of ,his wings2 and as if he almost beheld some visible1 tangible form1 such as ,peter gazed upon when the question was put to him on the shore of ,gennesaret1 ,lovest thou me8 we hear this warm1 impulsive ,peter of ,old ,testament times thus avowing his personal attachment--,i will love thee1 ,o ,lord my strength2 ,i love the ,lord1 because ,he hath heard my voice and my supplications2 ,the ,lord ,,liveth2 and blessed be my rock2 and let the ,god of my salvation be exalted4 ,reader1 do you know what it is thus to exult in ,god as a living ,god8 ,not to think of ,him as some mysterious ,essence1 who1 by an ,almighty fiat1 impressed on matter certain general laws1 and1 retiring into the solitude of ,his own being1 left these to work out their own processes4 ,but is there joy to you in the thought of ,god ever nigh1 compassing your path and your lying down8 ,do you know of ,,one1 brighter than the brightest radiance of the visible sun1 visiting your chamber with the first waking beam of the morning2 an eye of infinite tenderness and compassion following you throughout the day2 a hand of infinite love guiding you1 shielding you from danger1 and guarding you from temptation--the ,keeper of ,israel1 who neither slumbers nor sleeps8 ,and if gladdening it be1 at all times1 to hear the footsteps of this living ,god1 more especially gladdening is it1 as1 with the ,exile-,king of ,israel1 in the season of trial1 to think of ,him and to own ,him1 in the midst of mysterious dealings1 as ,one who personally loves you1 and who chastises you because ,he loves you4 ,the world1 in their cold vocabulary1 in the hour of adversity1 speak of ,providence1 the wil of ,providence1 the strokes of ,providence4 ,,providence6 ,what is that8 ,why dethrone a living ,god from the sovereignty of ,his own world8 ,why substitute a cold1 death-like abstraction in place of a living ,one1 an acting ,one1 a controlling ,one1 and 7to as many as ,he loves7 a rebuking ,one and a chastening ,one8 ,why forbid the angel of bereavement to drop from his wings the balmy fragrance1 ,thy ,father hath done it8 ,how it would take the sting from many a goading trial thus to see1 as ,job did1 nothing but the hand of ,god--to see that hand behind the gleaming swords of the ,sabeans1 the flash of the lightning1 and the wings of the whirlwind--and to say like ,david1 on the occasion of his mournful march to these very wilds of ,gilead1 ,i was dumb1 ,i opened not my mouth2 because ,,thou didst it4 7,psalm xxxix4 #i47 ,the thought of a living ,god forms the happiness of ,heaven4 ,it is the joy of ,angels4 ,it forms the essence and bliss of glorified ,saints4 ,the redeemed multitude1 while on earth1 thirsted for the living ,god1 but they had then only some feeble foretastes of ,his presence4 ,they sipped only some tiny rills flowing from the ,everlasting ,fountain2 now they have reached the living spring2 and the long-drawn sigh of the earthly valley is answered--,when shall we come and appear before ,god8 ,and what this living ,god is to the ,church above1 ,he is also to the ,church below4 ,in one sense we need ,him more6 ,the drooping1 pining plant1 battered down by rain1 and hail1 and tempest1 stands more in need of the fostering hand and genial sunbeam than the sturdy tree whose roots are firmly moored in the soil1 or sheltered from the sweep of the storm4 ,pilgrims in the ,valley of ,tears6 seek to live more under the habitual thought of ,god's presence4 ,in dark passages of our earthly history we know how supporting it is to enjoy the sympathy of kindred human friends4 ,what must it be to have the consciousness of the presence1 and support1 and nearness of the ,being of all beings2 when some cherished light of the dwelling is put out1 to have a better light remaining1 which sorrow cannot quench6 ,all know the story of the little child who1 in simple accents1 quieted its own fears and that of others in the midst of a storm4 ,when the planks were creaking beneath them--the hoarse voice of the thunder above mingling with that of the raging sea2--his tiny finger pointed to the calm visage of the pilot1 who was steering with brawny arm through the surge1 ,my father1 said he1 is at the helm6 ,would you weather the tempests of life1 and sit calm and unmoved amid the noise of its many waters1 let your eye rest on a living ,god--a loving ,father--a heavenly ,pilot4 ,see ,him guiding the ,vessel of your temporal and eternal destinies6 ,let ,faith be heard raising her triumphant accents amid the pauses of the storm--,o ,lord our ,god1 who is a strong ,lord like unto ,thee8 ,thou rulest the raging of the sea2 when the waves thereof arise1 ,thou stillest them4 7,psalm lxxxix4 #i47 ,above all1 be it yours to enjoy what ,david knew imperfectly1 the conscious nearness of a living ,,saviour1--a ,brother on the throne of ,heaven--,christ our life--,god in our nature--the man ,christ ,jesus1--susceptible of every human sympathy--capable of entering1 with infinite tenderness1 into every human want and woe--bending over us with ,his pitying eye--marking out for us our path--ordering our sorrows--filling or emptying our cup--providing our pastures1 and making all things work together for our good6 ,the words at this moment are as true as when1 eighteen hundred years ago1 they came fresh from ,his lips in ,patmos--,i am the living ,one6--,behold1 ,i am alive for evermore6 7,rev4 i4 #ah47 99 99 99 99 99 ,what is the great lesson from this meditation8 ,is it not to strive to be like ,god8 ,what does thirsting for ,god mean1 but a longing of the soul after likeness and conformity to the ,divine image8 ,let us not lose the deep truth of the text under the material emblem4 ,to thirst for ,god is to desire ,his fellowship2 and we can only hold fellowship with a congenial mind4 ,no man is ever found to covet the companionship of those whose tastes1 likings1 pursuits1 are opposed to his own4 ,place one whose character is scarred with dishonour and his life with impurity1 introduce him into the company of high-souled men--spirits of sterling integrity and unblemished virtue1 who would recoil from the contaminating touch of vice1 who would scorn a lie as they would a poisoned dart--he could not be happy2 he would long to break away from associates and associations so utterly distasteful and uncongenial4 ,no man can thirst after ,god who is not aiming after assimilation to ,his character4 ,god is ,,holy4 ,he who thirsts for ,god must be athirst for holiness--he must scorn impurity in all its forms1 in thought1 word1 and deed4 ,he who longs for the pure cistern must turn with loathing from the muddy pools of earth and sin4 ,again1 ,god is ,,love4 ,love is pencilled by ,him on every flower1 and murmured in every breeze4 ,the world is resonant with chimes of love1 and ,calvary is love's crowning triumph and consummation4 ,he who thirsts for ,god in him verily is the love of ,god perfected4 ,he must have the lineaments in outline1 at least1 of a loving nature4 ,he must hate all that is selfish1 delight in all that is beneficent1 and seek an elevating satisfaction in being the minister of love to others4 ,he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in ,god1 and ,god in him4 99 99 99 99 99 ,and what shall be said to those who know nothing of this thirst for ,god1--to whom all that is here written is but as an idle tale8 ,you may pant not for ,him4 ,you may have no spiritual thirst for ,him--no longing for ,his presence--no aspiration after ,his likeness4 ,but still ,he is to you1 as to the believer1 a ,,living ,god4 ,yes--scorner of ,his mercy6 ignore the truth as you may1 the ,god to whom you are responsible1--the ,god with whom you will yet have to do1 that ,god ,,lives6 ,his eye is upon you--,his book is open--,his pen is writing--the indelible page is filling6 ,you may see no trace of ,his footstep4 ,you may hear no tones of ,his voice4 ,his very mercy and forbearance may be misconstrued by you1 as if it indicated on ,his part indifference to ,his word and forgetfulness of your sin4 ,you may lull yourselves into the atheist dream1 that the world is governed by blind chance and fate1 that ,his heaven and ,his hell are the forged names and nullities of credulity and superstition4 ,as you see the eternal monuments of ,his power and glory on rock and mountain1 you may affect to see in these only the dead hieroglyphics of the past--the obsolete tool-marks of the ,god of primeval chaos1 who welded into shape the formless mass1 but having done so1 left it alone4 ,the scaffolding is removed1 the ,architect has gone to uprear other worlds1 and abandoned the completed globe to the control of universal laws6 ,nay--,,god ,,lives6 ,he is not far from any one of us4 ,he is no ,baal divinity1 asleep or taking a journey4 ,the volume of every heart is laid open to the eye of the great ,heart-searcher1 and vainly do you seek to elude ,his scrutiny4 ,terrible thought6 this living ,god against you6 ,you living1 and content to live ,his enemy6 rushing against the bosses of ,his buckler6 and if you were to die1 it would be in the attitude of one fighting against ,god6 ,no longer scorn ,his grace or reject ,his warnings4 ,he is living2 but1 blessed be ,his name1 ,he is living and waiting to be gracious6 ,you may be as stranded vessels on the sands of despair2 but the tide of ,his ocean-love is able to set you floating on the waters4 ,repair1 without delay1 to ,his mercy-seat4 ,cast yourselves on ,his free forgiveness4 ,every attribute of ,his nature which you have now armed against you1 is stretching out its hand of welcome and entreaty4 ,each is like a branch of the tree of life1 inviting you to repose under its shadow4 ,each is a rill from the everlasting fountain1 inviting you to drink of the unfailing stream4 ,see that ye refuse not ,him that speaketh4 ,he who unlocked that fountain is even now standing by it1 and saying1 as ,he contrasts it with all earth's polluted cisterns1 ,whosoever drinketh of ,,this water shall thirst again3 but whosoever drinketh of the water that ,i shall give him shall never thirst2 but the water that ,i shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life4 ,,iv4 ,the ,taunt4 ',wilt thou leave me thus1' ,i cried1 ',whelm'd beneath the rolling tide8' ,ah6 return and love me still2 ,see me subject to ,thy will2 ,frown with wrath1 or smile with grace1 ,only let me see ,thy face6 ,evil ,i have none to fear1 ,all is good1 if ,,thou art near4 ,king1 and ,lord1 whom ,i adore1 ,shall ,i see ,thy face no more8 --,madame ,guyon4 ,there is a persecution sharper than that of the axe4 ,there is an iron that goes into the heart deeper than the knife4 ,cruel sneers1 and sarcasms1 and pitiless judgments1 and cold-hearted calumnies--these are persecution4 ,my tears have been my meat day and night1 while they continually say unto me1 ,where is thy ,god8--,verse #c4 ,,iv4 ,,the ,,taunt4 ,we are called1 in this chapter1 to contemplate a new experience--,david in tears6 ,these1 his tears1 brought sin to his remembrance4 ,as1 in looking through the powerful lens of a microscope1 the apparently pellucid drop of water is found to be the swarming haunt of noxious things1--fierce animalcul devouring one another2 so the tears of the ,exile formed a spiritual lens1 enabling him to see into the depths of his own soul1 and disclosing1 with microscopic power1 transgressions that had long been consigned to oblivion4 ,ten years of regal prosperity had elapsed since the prophet ,nathan1 the minister of retribution1 stood before him1 in his ,cedar ,palace1 with heavy tidings regarding himself and his house4 ,time may have dimmed the impressions of that meeting4 ,he may have vainly imagined1 too1 that it had modified the ,divine displeasure4 ,now that his head was white with sixty winters1 he may have thought that ,god would exempt him from further merited chastisement1 and suffer him to go down to his grave in peace4 ,but the day of reckoning1 which the ,divine patience had long deferred1 had now come4 ,he was called to see the first gleamings of that sword which the anointed prophet had told him would never depart from his house4 7#b ,sam4 xii4 #aj47 ,the voice of long averted judgment is at last heard amid the thickets and caves of ,gilead1--,these things hast thou done1 and ,i kept silence2 thou thoughtest that ,i was altogether such an one as thyself3 but ,i will reprove thee1 and set them in order before thine eyes4 7,ps4 l4 #ba47 ,nature1 in her august solitudes1 echoed the verdict6 ,the waters murmured it--the winds chanted it--the forest wailed it--the thunders rolled it--and the tears of the lonely ,exile himself wept it1--,be sure your sin will find you out6 ,as he sat by the willows of ,jordan1 with his crownless head and aching heart1 he could say1 in the words of an older ,psalmist1 ,we are consumed by ,thine anger1 and by ,thy wrath are we troubled4 ,thou has set our iniquities before ,thee1 our secret sins in the light of ,thy countenance4 7,ps4 xc4 #g1 #h47 ,how apt are we to entertain the thought that ,god will wink at sin2 that ,he will not be rigidly faithful to ,his denunciations--unswervingly true to ,his word4 ,time's oblivion-power succeeds in erasing much from the tablets of our memories4 ,we measure the ,infinite by the standard of the finite1 and imagine something of the same kind regarding the ,great ,heart-,searcher4 ,sin1 moreover1 seldom is1 in this world1 instantaneously followed with punishment2 sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily2 and the long-suffering patience and forbearance of the ,almighty is presumptuously construed by perverse natures into alteration or fickleness in the ,divine purpose4 ,but ,god is not a man that ,he should lie6 ,even in this our present probation state1 7oftener than we suppose17 the time arrives for solemn retribution2 when ,he makes bare ,his arm to demonstrate by what an inseparable law in ,his moral government ,he has connected sin with suffering4 ,a new missile pierces this panting1 wounded ,hart on the mountains of ,israel4 ,one of those who hurled the ,javelin is specially mentioned in the sacred narrative4 ,his poisoned dart must have been rankling in ,david's soul when he penned this ,psalm4 ,when the ,king was descending the eastern slopes of ,olivet1 on his way to the ,valley of ,jordan1 ,shimei a ,benjamite of ,bahurim1 of the house of ,saul1 came out against him1 and1 we read1 cursed still as he came4 ,and he cast stones at ,david1 and at all the servants of ,king ,david3 and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left4 ,and thus said ,shimei when he cursed1 ,come out1 come out1 thou bloody man1 and thou man of ,belial3 the ,lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of ,saul1 in whose stead thou hast reigned2 and the ,lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of ,absalom thy son3 and1 behold1 thou art taken in thy mischief1 because thou art a bloody man4 ,and as ,david and his men went by the way1 ,shimei went along on the hill's side over against him1 and cursed him as he went1 and threw stones at him1 and cast dust4 7#b ,sam4 xvi #e-h1 #ac47 ,besides this son of ,gera1 there were many obsequious flatterers and sycophants at ,jerusalem--men once his cringing adherents1 loud with their hosannahs in the time of his prosperity--who had now turned against him in his adversity1 and become the partisans of the usurper4 ,they exulted over his downfall1 and followed him to the place of exile with the taunting cry1 ,where is now thy ,god8 ,mine enemies1 said he1 speak against me2 and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together1 saying1 ,,god hath forsaken him3 persecute and take him2 for there is none to deliver him4 7,ps4 lxxi4 #aj1 #aa47 ,there is no trial keener1 no anguish of soul intenser than this4 ,let not any talk of taunt and ridicule being a trivial and insignificant thing--unworthy of thought4 ,let not any say that the believer1 entrenched in a lordly castle--the very fortress of ,god--should be above the shafts hurled from the bow of envy1 or the venomous arrows from the tongue of the scoffer4 ,it is often because the taunt is contemptible that it is hardest to bear4 ,the sting of the adder rouses into fury the lordly lion4 ,the tiniest insect blanches the colour of the loveliest flower1 and causes it to hang its pining head4 ,sorrow is in itself difficult of endurance1 but bitter is the aggravation when others are ready to make a jest of our sorrows4 ,no water is bad enough to the fainting pilgrim1 but worse is it when he is mocked by the mirage or bitter pool4 ,all the more poignant1 too1 were these taunts in the case of ,david1 because too well did he know that such reproaches were merited1--that he himself had furnished his enemies with the gall and the wormwood that had been mingled in his cup4 ,the dark1 foul blots of his past life1 he had too good reason to fear1 were now emboldening them to blaspheme4 ,he had for years been the ,sweet ,singer of ,israel2--his future destiny was the ,psalmist of the universal ,church4 ,his sublime appeals1 and fervent prayers1 and holy musings1 were to support1 and console1 and sustain till the end of time4 ,millions on millions1 on beds of pain1 and in hours of solitude and times of bereavement1 were to have their faith elevated1 their hopes revived1 their love warmed and strengthened by listening to the harp of the ,minstrel ,king4 ,and now1 as his faith begins to languish1 now as a temporary wave of temptation sweeps him from his footing on the ,rock1 and the ,beloved of ,god wanders an exile and outcast1--a shout is raised by those who were strangers to all his sublime sources of consolation--,where is now thy ,god8 ,where is ,he whom thou hast sung of as the help of the godly1 the refuge of the distressed8 ,where1 uncrowned one6 is the answer to thy prayers8 ,where is ,he of whom thou didst boast as being known in all thy ,zion palaces as a refuge8 ,thou hast taught others and taught thyself to believe a lie4 ,o ,lucifer1 son of the morning6 how art thou fallen6 ,for the moment1 this crushing sarcasm can be answered by nothing but a flood of anguished tears4 ,he was below the wave2 and though he was soon to know that below that wave there was an ,arm lower still1 yet for the present he was dumb under the averment4 ,there was no light in the cloud4 ,he was unable to lay hold of a former comforting experience--,,thou hast known my soul in adversities4 7,ps4 xxxi4 #g47 ,oh1 how jealous we should be of anything that would reduce us so low as this1 and give a handle to the adversary6 ,beware of religious inconsistency4 ,one fatal step1 one unguarded word may undo a lifetime of hallowed influence4 ,one scar on the character1 one blot on the page of the living epistle is indelible4 ,it may be washed away1 indeed1 by the blood of sprinkling1 so that nothing of it will remain against you in the book of ,god2 but the eye and memory of the world1 keen to watch and treasure the inconsistencies of ,god's people1 will not so easily forgive or forget6 ,the ,hart laid itself open to the toils of the huntsman4 ,it was hit by the archers4 ,one fierce dart of temptation sped with unerring aim4 ,it has left the track of blood behind it in the glades of the forest--the unbelieving world hounds in remorseless pursuit1 and the taunting cry will follow to the grave6 ,are there any who feel that the experience of ,david is their own1--who either by reason of religious inconsistency or religious declension have laid themselves open to the upbraiding question1 ,where is thy ,god8--,perhaps religious declension is the more common of the two4 ,you are not1 as we have surmised in a previous chapter1 what once you were4 ,you have not the same love of the ,saviour as once you had--the same confidence in ,his dealings--the same trust in ,his faithfulness--the same zeal for ,his glory4 ,affliction1 when it comes1 does not lead you1 as once it did1 to cheerful acquiescence--to the cherishing of a meek1 unmurmuring submissive spirit under ,god's sovereign will and discipline1 but rather to a hasty1 misgiving frame--fretting and repining when you should be prostrate at the mercy-seat1 saying1 ,the will of the ,lord be done6 ,not in scorn1 but in sober seriousness1 in ,christian affection and fidelity1 we ask1 ,where is now thy ,god8 ,ye did run well2 who hath hindered you8 ,what is the guilty cause1 the lurking evil1 that has dragged you imperceptibly down from weakness to weakness1 and has left you a poor1 baffled thing1 with the finger of irreligious scorn pointed at you1 and whose truthfulness is echoed back from the lonely voids of your desolate heart8 ,return1 ,o backsliding children6 ,remain no longer as you are1 at this guilty distance from that ,god who1 amid all the fitfulness of your love to ,him1 remains unaltered and unalterable in ,his love to you4 ,be not absorbed in tears1 ringing your hands in moping melancholy--abandoning yourself to unavailing remorse and despair4 ,the past may be bad enough6 ,you may have done foul dishonour to your ,god4 ,by some sad and fatal inconsistency1 you may have given occasion to the ungodly to point at you the finger of scorn4 ,the fair alabaster pillar may be stained with some crimson transgression4 ,or if there be no special blot to which they can point1 there may be a lamentable spiritual deterioration in your daily walk4 ,they may have observed your love to ,god waxing cold--your love of the world waxing strong4 ,they may have heard you murmur at your ,lord's dealings1 question ,his faithfulness1 and refuse to hear and to bear the rod--manifesting tempers1 or indulging in pursuits sadly and strangely unlike what would be sanctioned by the example of your ,divine ,redeemer4 ,up6 and with determined energy resolve henceforth to repair the breach1--henceforth to make a new start in the heavenly life4 ,the shrill trumpet sounds--,awake1 thou that sleepest1 and arise from the dead1 and ,christ shall give thee life6 ,we cannot say1 like the ,king of ,nineveh1 ,who can tell if ,god will turn and repent8 ,he has never turned6 ,you have turned from ,him1 not ,he from you4 ,where is now thy ,god8 ,he is the same as ever ,he was2--boundless in ,his compassion--true to ,his covenant--faithful to ,his promises2 the same yesterday1 and to-day1 and for ever6 ,reader6 if ,he be afflicting you as ,he did ,david2--if with an exile spirit you be roaming some moral wilderness1 the flowers of earth faded on your path1 and the bleak winds of desolation and calamity sweeping and sighing around1 let these times of affliction lead to deep searchings of heart4 ,let your tears be as the dewdrops of the morning on the tender leaves1 causing you to bend in lowly sorrow and self-abasement1 only to be raised again1 refreshed1 to inhale new fragrance in the summer sun4 ,if1 like the weeping woman of ,galilee1 you are saying1 through blinding tears1 ,they have taken away my ,lord1 and ,i know not where they have laid ,him1 --if1 like the ,spouse in the ,canticles1 you are going about the city in search of your ,beloved2--seeking ,him1 ,he will be found of you4 ,the watchmen may smite you--repel you--tear off your veil--and load you with reproaches2--but fear not6 ye seek ,jesus who was crucified6 ,he will meet you as ,he did the desponding ,magdalene1 and1 listening like her to ,his own tones of ineffable love1 you will cast yourself at ,his feet1 and exclaim1 ,,rabboni--,,master6 ,v4 ,,the ,,taunt4 ,he wounds1 and hides the hand that gave the blow2 ,he flies1 ,he reappears1 and wounds again2 ,was ever heart that loved thee treated so8 ,yet ,i adore ,thee1 though it seem in vain4 --,cowper4 ,because for thy sake ,i have borne reproach2 shame hath covered my face4 ,i am become a stranger unto my brethren1 and an alien unto my mother's children4 ,reproach hath broken my heart2 and ,i am full of heaviness3 and ,i looked for some to take pity1 but there was none2 and for comforters1 but ,i found none4--,ps4 lxix4 #g1 #h1 #bj4 ,my tears have been my meat day and night1 while they continually say unto me1 ,where is thy ,god8--,verse #c4 ,v4 ,,the ,,taunt4 ,the ,great ,accuser of the brethren in a variety of ways attempts to insinuate the same dark doubts in the minds of believers1 which we have spoken of in the preceding pages4 ,he tries to shake their confidence in ,god1--in the veracity of ,his word1 and the faithfulness of ,his dealings4 ,he would lead them to discover in ,his providential dispensations what is inconsistent with ,his revealed character and will4 ,in seasons particularly of outward calamity and trouble1 when the body is racked with pain1 its nerves unstrung1 or its affections blighted and wounded--when the mind is oppressed and harassed1 the soul in darkness--the ,prince of this world1 who times his assaults with such consummate skill1 not unfrequently gains in such seasons a temporary triumph4 ,the shadow of a cold scepticism passes over the soul4 ,it is silent under the cry1 ,where is thy ,god8 ,have any of you ever known this acutest anguish of the human spirit1--those appalling moments of doubt1 when for a moment the whole citadel of truth seems to rock to its foundations1--when the soul becomes a dungeon with grated bars1 or in which the light of heaven is transmitted through distorted glass1 and the finger of unbelief is pointed inwards1 with the old sneer1 ,where is the ,god you were wont to boast of in your day of prosperity8 ,where is there evidence that one prayer you ever offered has been heard--one blessing you ever supplicated been granted--one evil you ever deprecated been averted or removed8 ,where one evidence of ,his hand in your allotments in life8 ,these heavens have never broken silence6 ,hundreds of years have elapsed since ,his voice was last heard4 ,moreover1 you have only some old parchment leaves written by converted ,pharisees and ,galilean fishermen to tell that ,deity ever gave audible utterances out of the thick darkness4 ,may not ,his very being be after all a fiction1 a delusion--,his ,bible a worn-out figment which superstition and priestcraft have successfully palmed upon the world8 ,or if you do believe in a ,god and in a written revelation1 have you not good reason1 at all events1 to infer from ,his adverse dealings that ,he cares nothing for you4 ,he has proved ,himself deaf to your cries4 ,where is the mercy in such an affliction as yours8 ,he has crossed your every scheme1 blasted your fairest gourds4 ,his appointments are surely arbitrary4 ,he takes useful lives1 and leaves useless ones4 ,he takes the wheat1 and leaves the chaff4 ,the chairs he empties are those of the kind and good1 the loving and beloved4 ,he leaves the wicked1 and proud1 and selfish1 and profligate4 ,can there be a ,god on the earth8 ,where is the justice and judgment which are 'the habitation of ,his throne'--where the 'mercy and the truth' that are said to 'go before ,his face8' ,such1 you may say1 are awful imaginations--too awful to speak of4 ,but such there are6 ,it is the horror of great darkness--spirits from the abyss sent to trouble the pools of ungodly thought1 and stir them from their depths4 ,ye who are thus assaulted1 do you ever think1 in the midst of these horrible insinuations1 of ,,one who had to bear the same8 ,think of that challenge which wrung a spotless human soul in the hour of its deepest anguish--,he trusted on the ,lord that ,he would deliver him3 let ,him deliver him1 seeing he delighted in ,him4 7,ps4 xxii4 #h47 ,it was the same taunt in ,his case as in yours6 ,it was the cruel1 poignant sneer1 that ,he had1 during all his lifetime of confiding filial love1 been trusting to a falsehood1--that if ,god had really been ,his ,father and ,he ,his ,son1 ten thousands of legions of angels would have been down now by the side of ,his cross to unbind ,his cords and set the ,victim free6 ,let the merciful1 the wondrous forbearance of ,christ be a lesson to ourselves in the endurance of the taunts of a scornful world and of the ,father of lies4 ,how easily might ,he have resented and answered the challenge by a descent from the cross1 by having the pierced feet and hands set free1--the crown of thorns replaced by a diadem of glory1 scattering the scoffing crew like chaff before the whirlwind6 ,but in meek1 majestic silence the ,lamb of ,god suffers ,himself to be bound1 the ,victim gives no struggle4 ,let them scoff on6 ,he will save others1 ,himself he will not save6 ,nor did all their scoffing1 their taunts and ridicule1 tend for a solitary moment to shake ,his confidence in ,his heavenly ,father4 ,these fell like spent spray on the ,rock of ,ages4 ,when the cup of trembling was in ,his hands1 sinking humanity for the moment seemed to stagger4 ,he breathed the prayer1 ,let it pass from me4 ,but immediately ,he added the condition of unswerving filial trust1 ,nevertheless1 ,o my ,father1 not as ,i will1 but as ,,thou ,,wilt4 ,even in the crisis of all1 when ,he was mourning the eclipse of that ,father's countenance--in that last gasp of superhuman agony1 ,he proclaims1 in answer to the taunts of earth and hell1 ,his unshaken trust1 ,,my ,,god1 ,,my ,,god6 ,comforting surely to the reviled1 the ridiculed1 and persecuted1 that1 severe and poignant as their sorrow is1 they are undergoing only what their ,lord and ,master1 in an inconceivably more awful form1 experienced before them6 ,yes6 think how ,he had to encounter the ingratitude of faithless1 the treachery of trusted friends4 ,the limbs ,he healed brought no succour--the tongues ,he unloosed lisped no accents of compassion--the eyes ,he unsealed gave no looks of love4 ,those lips that spake as never man spake1 dropping wherever they went balm-words of mercy1 now in vain make the appeal to the scoffing crowd1 ,have pity upon me1 have pity upon me1 ,o ye my friends1 for the hand of ,god hath touched me6 ,oh1 when in deeper than the water-floods of ,gilead1 this wounded ,,hart of ,heaven lay panting and bleeding under the curse1--when arrow after arrow was poured upon ,him from the shafts of men1 and the bitter cry resounded in ,his dying ears1 ,where is thy ,god8--how did ,he answer8 what was ,his response8 ,listen to the apostle's sublime comment on that scene of blended love and suffering--,who1 when ,he was reviled1 reviled not again2 when ,he suffered1 ,he ,,threatened ,,not2 ,,but ,,committed ,,himself ,,to ,,him ,,that ,,judgeth ,,righteously4 ,as the face1 the hidden face of ,god1 beamed upon the ,son of ,his love in the midst of that apparent desolation1 so will it be1 children of affliction and sorrow6 with you4 ,others may see in your tears nothing but an indication of the desertion of ,god1--the visitations of ,his wrath and judgment4 ,but believe it1 these very experiences of trouble and calamity1 of bereavement or death1 are all meted out and apportioned for you in love--drop by drop1 tear by tear4 ,seek to see ,god's hand in all that befalls you4 ,try1 even in the most adverse providences1 to rise above second causes4 ,be it with you as with ,david in his conduct towards ,shimei4 ,when the insulting ,benjamite was hurling these cruel taunts against the exiled ,king and the sorrowing ,father1--when his incensed soldiers1 burning with indignation1 were on the point of drawing their swords and inflicting summary vengeance on the scoffer--,why should this dead dog1 said ,abishai1 curse my lord the king8 let me go over1 ,i pray thee1 and take off his head--,david's reply is1 ,nay6 ,i hear not that man's voice--,i see not that man's face--my eye is above the human instrument1 on the ,god who sent him--',let him curse on1 for the ,lord hath bidden him4' 7#b ,sam xvi4 #aa47 ,trust ,god in the dark4 ,ah6 it is easy for us to follow ,him and to trust ,him in sunshine4 ,it is easy to follow our ,leader as ,israel did the pillar-cloud1 when a glorious pathway was opened up for them through the tongue of the ,red ,sea--when they pitched under shady palms and gushing fountains1 and heaven rained down bread on the hungry camp4 ,but it is not so easy to follow when fountains fail and the pillar ceases to guide1 and all outward and visible supports are withdrawn4 ,but then is the time for faith to rise to the ascendant2--when the world is loud with its atheist sneer1 ,,then is the time to manifest a simple1 child-like trust2 and1 amid baffling dispensations and frowning providences1 to exclaim1 ,though ,he slay me1 yet will ,i trust in ,him6 ,yes--troubled1 we are ,,not distressed2 perplexed1 we are ,,not in despair2 persecuted1 we are ,,not forsaken2 cast down1 we are ,,not destroyed4 ,we ,,are ready1 scoffing world6 to answer the question1 ,where is thy ,god8 ,,child ,,of ,,sickness6 bound down for years on that lonely pillow6--the night-lamp thy companion--disease wasting thy cheeks and furrowing thy brow--weary days and nights appointed thee--tell me1 ,where is thy ,god8 ,he is here1 is the reply2 ,his presence takes loneliness from my chamber and sadness from my countenance4 ,his promises are a pillow for my aching head1--they point me onwards to that better land where the inhabitant shall no more say1 ,i am sick6 ,,child ,,of ,,poverty6 ,where is thy ,god8 ,can ,he visit this rude dwelling8 ,can ,god's promises be hung on these broken rafters8 ,can the light of ,his word illumine that cheerless hearth and sustain that bent figure shivering over its mouldering ashes8 ,yes6 ,he is here4 ,the lips of ,truth that uttered the beatitude1 ,blessed be ye poor1 have not spoken in vain4 ,bound down by chill penury--forsaken and forgotten in old age--no footstep of mercy heard on my gloomy threshold--no lip of man to drop the kindly word--no hand of succour to replenish the empty cupboard--that ,god above has not deserted me4 ,he has led me to seek and lay up my treasure in a home where want cannot enter1 and where the beggar's hovel is transformed into the kingly mansion6 ,,bereaved ,,one6 ,where is thy ,god8 ,where is the arm of ,omnipotence thou wast wont to lean upon8 ,has ,he forgotten to be gracious8 ,has ,he mocked thy prayers1 by trampling in the dust thy dearest and best1 and left thee to pine and agonise in the bitterness of thy swept heart and home8 ,nay1 ,he is here6 ,he has swept down my fondest idol1 but it was in order that ,he himself might occupy the vacant seat4 ,i know ,him too well to question the faithfulness of ,his word1 and the fidelity of ,his dealings4 ,i have never known what a ,god ,he was1 till this hour of bitter trial overtook me6 ,there was a need be in every tear--every death-bed--every grave6 ,,dying ,,man6 the billows are around thee--the world is receding--the herald symptoms of approaching dissolution are gathering fast around thy pillow--the soul is pluming its wings for the immortal flight2 ere memory begins to fade1 and the mind becomes a waste1--ere the names of friends1 when mentioned1 will only be answered by a dull1 vacant look1 and then the hush of awful silence1--tell me1 ere the last lingering ray of consciousness and thought has vanished1 ,where is thy ,god8 ,he is here6 ,i feel the everlasting arms underneath and round about me4 ,heart and flesh are failing4 ,the mists of death are dimming my eyes to the things below1 but they are opening on the magnificent vistas of eternity4 ,,yonder ,he is6 seated amid armies of angels4 ,my soul thirsteth for ,god1 for the living ,god6 ,,this ,,god ,,shall ,,be ,,my ,,god ,,for ,,ever ,,and ,,ever6 ,,vi4 ,sabbath ,memories4 ,dear is the ,sabbath morn to me1 ,when village bells awake the day1 ,and with their holy minstrelsy ,call me from earthly cares away4 ,and dear to me the winged hour1 ,spent in thy hallow'd courts1 ,o ,lord1 ,to feel devotion's soothing power1 ,and catch the manna of ,thy ,word4 ,and dear to me the loud ',amen1' ,that echoes through the blest abode-- ,that swells1 and sinks1 and swells again1 ,dies on the ear--but lives to ,god4 ,oft when the world1 with iron hand1 ,has bound me in its six days' chain1 ,this bursts them1 like a strong man's band1 ,and bade my spirit live again4 ,and the king said unto ,zadok1 ,carry back the ark of ,god into the city3 if ,i shall find favour in the eyes of the ,lord1 he will bring me again1 and shew me both it1 and his habitation4--#b ,sam4 xv4 #be4 ,when ,i remember these things1 ,i pour out my soul in me3 for ,i had gone with the multitude1 ,i went with them to the house of ,god1 with the voice of joy and praise1 with a multitude that kept holy-day4--,verse #d4 ,,vi4 ,,sabbath ,,memories4 ,we always commiserate those who have seen better days4 ,poverty1 indeed1 under any form1 appeals with irresistible power to the sympathies of our better nature4 ,the most heartless and indifferent cannot refuse the tribute of pity to the ragged beggar shivering on the street1 or seated in his hovel by the ashes of a spent fire1 brooding over a wretched past1 with the grim spectral forms of want hovering over a miserable future4 ,sad1 however1 as the condition of such may be1 habit1 in one sense1 may have become to that squalid pauper a second nature4 ,he may never have known a more prosperous state4 ,he may have been inured from his earliest years to buffet life's wintry storm4 ,chill penury may have rocked his cradle1 and ever since sung her rude lullaby over his pallet of straw4 ,far more is to be pitied the case of those who have sunk from comfort into indigence1 around whose early home no bleak winds of adversity ever blew1 who were once pillowed in the lap of plenty if not of luxury1 but who1 by some sudden wave of calamity1 have become wrecks on life's desert shore4 ,if there be one being on ,god's earth more to be pitied than another1 it is the mother of a once joyous home1 turned adrift1 in the hour of her widowhood1 with her ragged children2--forced to sing1 from door to door1 to escape the jaws of hungry famine1--ill disguising1 under her heap of squalid rags or her trembling notes of sorrow and despair1 the story of brighter days4 ,similar is the commiseration we extend 7let the shores of this ,refuge ,island of ours bear testimony7 to the hapless patriot or the fallen monarch4 ,these may have been hurled from positions of influence or pinnacles of glory more by their crimes than by their misfortunes4 ,the revolutionary wave that swept them from their country or their thrones may have been a just retribution for misrule2 but it is their hour of adversity6 ,they have seen better and more auspicious times4 ,pity for the fallen knocks1 and never knocks in vain1 at the heart of a great nation's sympathies4 ,such was ,david's position at this time3 ,denied the sympathy of others1 his own soul is filled with recollections of a far different past4 ,the monarch of ,israel1 the beloved of ,god1 the idol of his people2 now a fugitive from his capital--his palace sacked--his crown dishonoured--wandering in ignoble exile--a wreck of vanished glory6 ,but it is not these features of his humiliating fall on which his mind mainly dwells4 ,it is not the thought of his sceptre wrested from his grasp--his army in mutiny--his royal residence a den of traitors--that fills his soul with most poignant sorrow4 ,he is an exile from the ,house of ,god6 ,the joy of his old ,sabbaths is for the time suspended and forfeited4 ,no more is the sound of silver trumpets heard summoning the tribes to the new moons and solemn feast-days6 ,no more does he behold1 in thought1 the slopes of ,olivet studded with pilgrim tents or made vocal with songs in the night6 ,no more does he see the triumphant procession wending up the hill of ,zion--timbrel and pipe and lute and voice celebrating in glad accord the high praises of ,god2--the singers in front1 and the players on instruments behind1--he himself1 harp in hand1 7the true father of his people17 leading the jubilant chorus1 and ,jehovah commanding upon all the blessing1 even life for evermore6 ,how changed6 ,to this ,sabbath-loving and ,sabbath-keeping ,king nothing but the memory of these remained4 ,when ,i remember these things1 ,i pour out my soul in me3 for ,i had gone with the multitude1 ,i went with them to the house of ,god1 with the voice of joy and praise1 with a multitude that kept holy-day4 ,jerusalem was the pride and glory of the ,jew4 ,wherever he went1 he turned to it as to his best and fondest home4 ,the windows of ,daniel's chamber were open towards ,jerusalem4 ,with his eye in the direction of the holy city1 he kneeled upon his knees three times a-day1 and prayed1 and gave thanks before his ,god1 as he did aforetime4 7,dan4 vi4 #aj47 ,jonah was in the strangest of prisons4 ,the depths closed round about him1 the weeds were wrapped about his head1 and the earth with its iron bars4 ,from the belly of hell he sent up his cry to ,god4 ,i am cast out of thy sight1 yet ,i will look again toward thy ,,holy ,,temple4 7,jonah ii4 #b47 ,captive ,israel are seated1 in mute despondency1 by the willowed banks of the streams of ,babylon4 ,the ,euphrates 7an ocean river compared with the tiny streams of ,palestine7 rolled past them4 ,the city of the hundred gates rose1 like a dream of giant glory1 before their view1 with its colossal walls1 and towers1 and hanging gardens4 ,yet what were they in the eyes of these exile spectators8 ,shadows of greatness in comparison with the city and temple of their fathers amid the hills of ,judah6 ,when their oppressors demanded of them a ,hebrew melody1 saying1 ,sing us one of the songs of ,zion1 they answered1 through hot tears of sorrowful remembrance1 ,how shall we sing the ,lord's song in a strange land8 7,ps4 cxxxvii4 #d47 ,so it was with ,david now4 ,as a bird taken from its home in the forest and placed in a cage1 refuses to warble a joyous note--beats its plumage against the enclosing bars1 and struggles to get free1--so he seems to long for wings that he may flee away to the hallowed eaves of the sanctuary1 and be at rest6 ,he himself1 indeed1 uses a similar figure4 ,he tells us1 in another ,psalm1 written on this same occasion1 that so blessed did he feel those to be who enjoyed the privilege of dwelling in ,god's house1 and so ardent was his longing to participate in their joy1 that he half-envied the swallows who constructed their nests upon its roof4 7,ps4 lxxxiv47 ,he was not without his solaces in this season of reverse and calamity4 ,he had many faithful adherents still clinging to him in his adversity4 ,the best and bravest chieftains from the tribes on the other side of the ,jordan supplied his drooping followers with the produce of their rich pasture lands4 ,shobi of ,ammon1 and ,machir of ,lo-debar1 and ,barzillai the ,gileadite--these brought1 besides camp utensils1 wheat1 and barley1 and flour1 and parched corn1 and beans1 and lentiles1 and parched pulse1 and honey1 and butter1 and sheep1 and cheese of kine1 for ,david1 and for the people that were with him1 to eat3 for they said1 ,the people is hungry1 and weary1 and thirsty1 in the wilderness4 7#b ,sam4 xvii4 #bg-bi47 ,glorious1 too1 was ,nature's temple around him4 ,its pillars the mountains--the rocks its altar--the balmy air its incense--the range of ,lebanon1 rising like a holy of holies1 with its reverend curtain of mist and cloud1 and snowy ,hermon towering in solemn grandeur above all1 as the very throne of ,god6 ,yet what were these compared with ,,jerusalem1 the place of sacrifice1 the resting-place of the ,shekinah-glory1 the city of solemnities1 whither the tribes go up1 the tribes of the ,lord1 unto the testimony of ,israel1 to give thanks unto the name of the ,lord8 7,ps4 cxxii4 #d47 ,this wounded ,hart pants for the water-brooks of ,zion2 ,nature's outer sanctuary had no glory to him1 by reason of the glory that excelleth4 ,the ,god who dwelleth between the cherubim had chosen ,zion1 and desired it for ,his habitation1 saying1 ,this is my rest for ever3 here will ,i dwell2 for ,i have desired it4 7,ps4 cxxxii4 #ac1 #ad47 ,with the windows of his soul1 like ,daniel1 thrown open towards ,jerusalem1 and his inner eye wistfully straining to its sunny heights1 his ear catching the cadence of its festive throng1 he seems to say1 ,if ,i forget thee1 ,o ,jerusalem1 let my right hand forget her cunning4 ,if ,i do not remember thee1 let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth2 if ,i prefer not ,jerusalem above my chief joy4 7,ps4 cxxxvii4 #e1 #f47 ,do we prize the blessing of our ,sabbaths and our sanctuaries8 can we say1 with somewhat of the emphasis of this expatriated ,king--,,one thing have ,i desired of the ,lord1 that will ,i seek after2 that ,i may dwell in the house of the ,lord all the days of my life1 to behold the beauty of the ,lord1 and to inquire in ,his temple8 ,alas6 when we are living in the enjoyment of blessings1 too true it is that we have seldom a vivid sense of their value4 ,he who is born in a free country1 to whom slavery and oppression are strange words1 seldom realises the priceless boon of liberty4 ,but let him suddenly be made the victim of tyrant thraldom2 let him feel the irons loading his body1 or the worse than material shackles fettering liberty of thought and action1 and how will the strains of freedom fall like heavenly music on his ear6 ,when we are in the enjoyment of health and strength1 how little do we prize the boon4 ,but let us be laid on a bed of languishing2 let the sick lamp flicker for weeks by the sleepless pillow2 let the frame be so shattered that even the light tread of loving footsteps across the room quickens the beat of the throbbing brow4 ,in waking visions of these lonely night-watches1 how does the day of elastic vigour and unbroken health rise before us6 how do we reproach ourselves that the boon was so long ungratefully forgotten and unworthily requited6 ,a parent little knows the strength of the tie which binds him to his child during the brief loan of a loved existence4 ,he gets habituated to the winning ways1 and loving words1 and constant companionship4 ,he comes to regard that little life as part of himself4 ,he does not fully realise the blessing1 because he has never dreamt of the possibility of its removal4 ,but when the startling blow comes1--when death1 in an unexpected moment1 has severed the tie1--when his eye lights on the empty chair or the unused toy1--when the joyous footfall and artless prattling are heard no more1--then comes he to gauge all the depth and intensity of his affection1 and to feel how tenderly 7too tenderly67 that idol was enshrined in his heart of hearts6 ,so it is with religious privileges4 ,in such a land as our own1 in which1 from our earliest infancy1 we have been accustomed to a hallowed ,sabbath1 an open sanctuary1 an unclasped and unforbidden ,bible1 we do not fully estimate the priceless value of the spiritual blessings bequeathed to us1 because never have we felt the loss or the want of them4 ,but go to some land of heathenism1 where the exiled child of a ,british ,christian home finds neither minister nor ,house of ,god4 ,go to the thousands who have betaken themselves to a voluntary exile amid ,american forests or ,australian pastures4 ,or go to the lands of apostate ,christendom1 where the ,bible is a sealed book1 and religious liberty is an empty name2 where souls thirsting for the living stream are compelled to drink from some adulterated cistern4 ,alas6 many in such circumstances are content to sink into a listless indifference2 cold and lukewarm at home1 they are too ready to lapse into the chill of spiritual death abroad4 ,but there are others who have not so readily obliterated the holiest records of the past4 ,ask many tired and jaded emigrants1 conscious of nobler aspirations than this world can meet1 what recollections1 more hallowed than others1 linger on their spirits8 ,they will tell you it is the memory of the ,sabbath rest and the ,sabbath sanctuary2 when1 at the summons of the village bell1 mountain and glen and hamlet poured forth their multitudes to the house of ,god2 seated wherein1 the burdens and anxieties1 the cares and disquietudes of the work-day world were hushed and set aside1 and in listening to the words of everlasting life1 sorrows were soothed1 faith was revived1 and hope brightened4 ,o ,god1 their cry is1 our flesh longeth for ,thee in a dry and thirsty land1 where no water is2 to see ,thy power and ,thy glory1 so as we have seen ,thee in the sanctuary4#ba #ba ,psalm lxiii4 #a1 #b4 ,let us seek to prize our means of grace while we have them4 ,in a country which is the reputed palladium of liberty2--where the greatest of all liberty1 the liberty of the truth1 has been purchased by the blood of our fathers1--the time1 we trust1 with ,god's help1 may never come when these bulwarks will be overthrown--when our sanctuaries will be closed--our ,bibles proscribed--our ,sabbaths blotted from the statute-book--and bigotry1 in league with rampant infidelity1 again forge the chain and rear the dungeon4 ,but remember1 that protracted sickness or disease may at any time overtake us1 and debar us from the precious blessings of the public sanctuary4 ,yes6 ,i say the public sanctuary4 ,god's appointed ordinances can never be superseded or rendered obsolete by human substitutes4 ,some may urge that books now-a-days are better than any preaching2--that the press is more potent and eloquent than any living voice4 ,but church or pulpit is not a thing of man's device4 ,it is a divine institute4 ,the speaker is an ambassador in his ,master's name1 charged with a vast mission from the court of high heaven1 and the ,house of ,god is the appointed audience-chamber4 ,god does not1 indeed1 7nay1 far from it17 forsake the dwellings of ,jacob4 ,the lowliest cottage-home may become a ,bethel1 with a ladder of love set between earth and heaven1 traversed by ministering angels6 ,the secluded sick-chamber may become a ,patmos1 bright with manifestations of the ,redeemer's presence and grace6 ,but1 nevertheless1 ,thy way1 ,o ,god1 is in the sanctuary4 ,the promise remains1 ,i will make my people joyful in my house of prayer4 ,it is the solemn trysting-place--the pledged ground of covenant intercommunion4 ,,there ,i will meet with thee1 and commune with thee from off my mercy-seat6 ,the ,lord loveth the gates of ,zion6 ,how goodly are thy tents1 ,o ,jacob1 and thy tabernacles1 ,o ,israel6#bb #bb ,ex4 xxv4 #bb2 ,psalm lxxxvii4 #b2 ,numb4 xxiv4 #e4 ,reader1 let me ask1 ,how stands it with you8 ,are you conscious of a reverential regard and attachment to ,god's holy place8 ,does the return of the ,sabbath awake in your heart the old melody of this sweet singer of ,israel1--,this is the day which the ,lord hath made2 we will rejoice and be glad in it8#bc ,do you go to the solemn assembly1 not to hear the messenger but the message2--not to pay homage to a piece of dust1 7the vilest and most degraded form of idolatry17 but feeling yourself a beggar in the sight of ,god1 with a soul to save1 and an eternity to provide for8 ,do you approach it as the place of prayer1 over which the cloud hovers laden with spiritual blessings8 ,do you go to it as the house of ,god1 seeking fellowship and communion with the ,father of spirits2 desiring that all its services--its devotions1 and praises1 and exhortations--may become hallowed magnets1 drawing you nearer and binding you closer to the mercy-seat8 ,oh1 let not the boon of ,sabbath privileges degenerate into an empty form1 the mere pageant of custom4 ,let the ,sabbath hours be sacredly kept4 ,let their lessons be sacredly treasured4 ,let their close find you a ,sabbath-day's journey nearer heaven4 ,let their hallowed fragrance follow you through the week4 ,let them be landmarks in the pilgrimage2 towering behind you the further you go--like ,alp piled on ,alp1 flushed with roseate light1 guiding and cheering you when low down in the valleys of trial and sorrow1 and when called to descend the last and gloomiest ,valley of all4 #bc ,psalm cxviii4 #bd4 ,david is mourning1 in the words which have given rise to these thoughts1 over his altered ,sabbath joys4 ,it may be there are some reading these pages1 who1 though they know nothing like him of literal exile and banishment from the sanctuary1 may yet be able painfully to participate in his feelings6 ,they are seated1 ,sabbath after ,sabbath1 in their pews2 their ,bibles are in their hands--the living words of the preacher are sounding in their ears2 but their experience may be best interpreted by the language of the ,christian poet3-- ,where is the blessedness ,i knew ,when first ,i saw the ,lord8 ,where is the soul-refreshing view ,of ,jesus and ,his ,word8 ,how blest the hours ,i once enjoy'd6 ,how sweet their memory still6 ,but they have left an aching void ,the world can never fill4 ,memory can travel back on ,sabbaths and communion seasons when a sunshine of holy joy irradiated their spirits2 when their ,sabbath was one hallowed ,emmaus-journey2--they1 during its sanctuary-hours1 travelling side by side with ,jesus1 and ,he causing their hearts1 as ,he did those of the disciples of old1 to burn within them4 ,they were wont to come and depart1 saying1 ,this is none other than the house of ,god2 this is the gate of heaven4 ,now they feel that all is sorrowfully altered4 ,they have comparatively no joy1 as once they had1 when the ,sabbath morning dawns4 ,when they seat themselves in church1 there is no fervour in their praises--no earnestness in their prayers--no childlike teachableness in hearing4 ,there is more criticising of the preacher than worshipping ,god4 ,there is no living flame on the heart-altar2 their befitting exclamation is that of the prophet1 ,my leanness6 my leanness6 ,they are ready1 in the bitterness of their spirits1 to say1 ,when ,i remember these things1 my soul is poured out within me4 ,sad it is to have no meat2 but sad1 too1 when we have food and cannot enjoy it6 ,sad it is1 as exiles in a strange land1 to have no ,sabbath-gates flung open to us1 and no ,sabbath-bells to welcome the day of ,god2 but sadder still to have these solemn chimes within hearing2--to have our sanctuaries open1 and faithful ministers proclaiming the words of eternal life1 and yet to listen with the adder's ear2--to listen as the dead in our churchyards listen to the tears and laments of the living6 ,what should be done in such a case as this8 ,trace the muddy and turgid stream to its source4 ,discover what earthly clouds are dimming the spiritual firmament1 and hiding the shinings of the ,divine countenance4 ,sin1 in some shape or other1 must be the fruitful cause4 ,it may be some positive and persevered-in transgression2 indulgence in which1 shuts up the avenues of prayer1 and denies all access to the mercy-seat4 ,or it may be some no less culpable sin of omission4 ,that mercy-seat may have become unfrequented2 the rank grass may be waving over its once beaten foot-road2 the altar-fire languishing in the closet1 must necessarily languish in the sanctuary too4 ,how can the ,house of ,god be now fragrant with blessing1 if the life is spent in guilty estrangement from ,him8 ,religion cannot be worn as a ,sabbath garment1 if garments soiled with sin be worn throughout the week4 ,self-exile from the joys of the sanctuary6 return henceforth to ,god4 ,if it be positive sin which is marring former blessedness1 cast out the troubler in ,israel4 ,if it be duties omitted1 or perfunctorily discharged1 return to former earnest-mindedness4 ,cultivate more filial nearness to the ,hearer of prayer4 ,seek1 on your bended knees1 to obtain more tenderness of conscience regarding sin2--to have more longing aspirations after the beauties of holiness4 ,and delay not the return4 ,by doing so1 the growing languor and listlessness which is creeping over you1 may settle into positive disrelish of ,god's house4 ,imitate the example of the ,spouse in the ,canticles1 who1 in mourning over similar spiritual declension1 resolves on an instantaneous seeking of the forfeited presence of her ,lord4 ,tell me1 ,o thou whom my soul loveth1 where thou feedest1 where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon3 for why should ,i be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions8#bd ,go with the words which this exile of ,gilead employs in the sequel to this ,psalm1 written on the same occasion--,o send out ,thy light and ,thy truth3 let them lead me2 let them bring me unto ,thy holy hill1 and to ,thy tabernacles4 ,then will ,i go unto the altar of ,god1 unto ,god my exceeding joy4#be #bd ,sol4 ,song i4 #g4 #be ,psalm xliii4 #c1 #d4 ,yes6 go1 and prove what the ,god of the sanctuary can do in the fulfilment of ,his own promise4 ,he seems now to be saying1 ,put me to the test4 ,prove me now herewith1 if ,i will not open you the windows of heaven1 and pour you out a blessing1 that there shall not be room enough to receive it4#bf ,every church is a ,peniel1 where ,god meets ,his people1 as ,he met the patriarch of old at the brook ,jabbok4 ,go and see what may be effected by one lowly1 humble1 seeking soul--some wrestling ,jacob1 who1 like a ,prince1 has power with ,god1 and prevails6 ,the lowliest tabernacle on earth is glorified as being the ,house of ,god--the dwelling-place of ,omnipotence and ,love--the hallowed home1 where a loving ,father waits to dispense to ,his children the garnered riches of ,his grace6 ,the time may come when the holy and beautiful sanctuary where we worship may become a heap of ruins4 ,the fire may lay it in ashes--the hand of man may raze it--the slower but surer hand of time may corrode its walls and crumble its solid masonry stone by stone2 but as sure as it is ,god's own appointed treasure-house of spiritual mercies1 may we not believe that there will be deathless spirits who will be able to point to it in connexion with imperishable memories1--buildings of ,god1 eternal in the heavens1 beyond the reach of human violence1 and wasting elements1 and corroding years8 ,does not the promise stand unrepealed in this ,bible2--let it ever be the inscription on our temples of worship1--,of ,,zion it shall be said1 ,this and that man was born in her2 and the ,highest himself shall establish her4 ,the ,lord shall count1 when ,he writeth up the people1 that this man was born there8#bg #bf ,mal4 iii4 #aj4 #bg ,psalm lxxxvii4 #e1 #f4 ,oh that ours may at last be the blessedness of that better ,church above1 which knows no banishment1 no exile1 no languor1 no weariness2--where the holy-day is an eternal ,sabbath2--the festive throng1 a multitude which no man can number--the voice of joy and praise1 everlasting songs2--where ,god's absence can never be deplored2--where ,he who now tendeth ,his temple-lamps on earth1 feeding them day by day with the oil of ,his grace1 removing the rust perpetually gathering over them by reason of their contact with sin1 will1 with the plenitude of ,his own presence1 supersede all earthly luminaries1 and ordinances1 and sanctuaries2--for they need no candle1 neither light of the sun1 for the ,lord ,god giveth them light1 and they shall reign for ever and ever6 ,,vii4 ,hope4 ,when the water-floods of grief ,round thy helpless head shall rise1 ,when there seemeth no relief1 ,lift thy gaze to yonder skies2 ,there behold how radiantly ,beams the star of ,hope divine6 ,yesterday it shone for thee1 ,and to-day it still shall shine4 ,ask no aid the world can give1 ,,looking ,,unto ,,jesus1 live6 ,when ,i ask the question1 ',why art thou cast down1 ,o my soul8' ,i am ashamed of the answer that must be returned4 ,what if property1 credit1 health1 friends and relatives were all lost2 thou hast a ,father1 a friend1 an advocate1 a comforter1 a mansion1 a treasure in heaven4--,bishop ,hall4 ,why art thou cast down1 ,o my soul8 and why art thou disquieted in me8 hope thou in ,god3 for ,i shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance4--,verse #e4 ,,vii4 ,,hope4 ,take the wings from a bird1 and it is the most helpless of animals4 ,bring the eagle from his eyrie1 and rob him of his plumage1 and he who an hour before was soaring monarch of the sky1 is more powerless than the worm crawling at his side1 or than the bleating lamb that trembled and cowered under his shadow4 ,such was ,david now4 ,the wounded bird of ,paradise flutters in the dust4 ,the taunting cry everywhere assails him1 ,where is thy ,god8 ,the future is a mournful blank1 and the past is crowded with joyous and happy memories1 which only aggravate and intensify the sorrows of the present4 ,but though soiled and mutilated1 the wings of faith are not broken4 ,he struggles to rise from his fall4 ,in the verse we are now to consider1 he plumes his pinions for a new flight4 ,we found him a short time before1 making his tears a microscopic lens1 looking through them into the depths of his own sorrowing and sinning heart4 ,so long as he does so1 there is ground for nothing but misgiving and despair4 ,but he reverses the lens4 ,he converts the microscope into a telescope4 ,in self-oblivion1 he turns the prospect-glass away from his own troubles and sorrows1 his fitful frames and feelings1 his days alike of sunshine and shade1 to ,him who is above all mutation and vicissitude4 ,in this position1 with his eye ,god-wards1 he begins to interrogate his own spirit as to the unreasonableness of its depression4 ,he addresses a bold remonstrance to guilty unbelief4 ,in the preceding verse1 he alluded to the dense multitude--the many thousands of ,israel--he was wont to lead in person to the feasts of ,zion4 ,now he is alone with one auditor--that auditor is ,,himself4 ,why art thou cast down1 ,o ,,my ,,soul8 ,and what is his antidote8 ,what is the balm and balsam he applies to his wounded spirit8 ,hope thou in ,god6 ,,hope6 ,who is insensible to the music of that word8 ,what bosom has not kindled under its utterance8 ,poetry has sung of it2 music has warbled it2 oratory has lavished on it its bewitching strains4 ,pagan mythology1 in her vain but beautiful dreams1 said that when all other divinities fled from the world1 ,hope1 with her elastic step and radiant countenance and lustrous attire1 lingered behind4 ,,hope6 well may we personify thee1 lighting up thy altar-fires in this dark world1 and dropping a live coal into many desolate hearts2 gladdening the sick-chamber with visions of returning health2 illuminating with rays1 brighter than the sunbeam1 the captive's cell2 crowding the broken slumbers of the soldier by his bivouac-fire1 with pictures of his sunny home1 and his own joyous return4 ,,hope6 drying the tear on the cheek of woe6 ,as the black clouds of sorrow break and fall to the earth1 arching the descending drops with thine own beauteous rainbow6 ,ay1 more1 standing with thy lamp in thy hand by the gloomy realms of ,hades1 kindling thy torch at ,nature's funeral pile1 and opening vistas through the gates of glory6 ,if ,hope1 even with reference to present and finite things1 be an emotion so joyous1--if uninspired poetry can sing so sweetly of its delights1 what must be the believer's hope1 the hope which has ,god for its object1 and heaven its consummation8 ,how sweet that strain must have sounded from the lips of the exile ,psalmist amid these glens of ,gilead6 ,a moment before1 his sky is dark and troubled1 but blue openings begin once more to tremble through the clouds4 ,the mists have been hanging dense and thick1 hiding out the water-brooks4 ,but now the sun shines4 ,they rise and circle in wreaths of fantastic vapour1 disclosing to the wounded ,hart the springs in the valleys which run among the hills2 which give drink to every beast in the field1 and where the wild asses quench their thirst4 ,the wilderness has become once more a pool of water1 and the dry land springs of water4 ,rebuking his unworthy tears1 ,faith once more takes down her harp1 and thus wakes its melodies1--,i wait for the ,lord1 my soul doth wait1 and in ,his word do ,i ,,hope4 ,let ,israel ,,hope in the ,lord4#bh #bh ,psalm cxxx4 #e1 #g4 ,and is it not well for us from time to time to open the gates of our own souls1 and hold a similar consistory8--to make solemn inquisition with our hearts in their seasons of trouble and disquietude8 ,why art thou cast down8 ,is it outward trial that assails thee8 ,has calamity abridged thy earthly comforts8 ,have the golden heaps thou mayest have been a lifetime in amassing1 dissolved like a snow-wreath2--the waxen wings of capricious fortune1 when thou wast soaring highest1 melting like those of fabled ,icarus of old1 and bringing thee helpless to the ground8 ,or is it sickness that has dulled thine eye1 paralysed thy limb1 and ploughed its furrows on thy cheek2 shutting out from thee the din of a busy world1 and chaining thee down to a couch of languishing8 ,or is it the treachery of thy trusted friend that has wounded thee2 blighting thine affections1 crushing thy hopes1 dashing thy cup of earthly bliss to the ground8 ,or is it bereavement that has made gaps in thy loved circle2 torn away the fixtures which gave thy dwelling and life itself all its gladness and joy8 ,,hope thou in ,,god4 ,the creature has perished4 ,god is imperishable6 ,thou mayest be saying in the bitterness of thy spirit1 ,all these things are against me2 there may be no gleam of light in the tempest1 no apparent reason for the dark dispensation2 you feel it is with stammering lips and a misgiving heart you give utterance to the reluctant word1 ,thy will be done4 ,but1 ,my soul1 wait thou only upon ,god2 7or1 as ,calvin translates this1 ,be silent before ,god27 for my expectation is from ,him4#bi ,commit also thy way unto the ,lord1 and ,he shall bring it to pass4#cj ,here is the province of faith1--implicit trust in dark dealings4 ,god brings ,his people into straits2 sends often what is baffling and unaccountable1 to lead them devoutly to say1 ,though ,he slay me1 yet will ,i trust in ,him4 ,oh1 beautiful is it thus to see ,,hope sitting1 like the sea-bird1 calmly on the crested wave6 ,while others 7strangers to the peace of the gospel7 are beating their breasts in tumultuous grief1 indulging in wild paroxysms of rebellious sorrow1--beautiful is it to see the smitten one prostrate at the feet of the great ,,chastener1 saying through tear-drops of resignation1 ,even so1 ,father2 for so it seems good in ,thy sight6 ,believe it1 in the apparently rough voice of thy ,god1 there is1 as in the case of ,joseph to his brethren1 tones of dissembled love1 disguised utterances of affection--,although thou sayest thou canst not see ,him1 yet judgment is before ,him2 therefore trust thou in ,him4#ca #bi ,psalm lxii4 #e4 #cj ,psalm xxxvii4 #e4 #ca ,job xxxv4 #ad4 ,besides1 this lofty grace of ,hope requires stern discipline to bring it into exercise1 and to develop its noble proportions4 ,it is the child of tribulation4 ,the apostle thus traces its pedigree--,tribulation worketh patience2 and patience1 experience2 and experience1 ,,hope4#cb ,as there can be no rainbow in the natural heavens without the cloud1 so ,hope cannot span the moral firmament1 with its triumphal arch1 without the clouds of tribulation4 ,as the mother eagle is said1 when other expedients fail1 to put a thorn in the side of her nest to urge her young brood to fly1 so tribulation is the thorn which drives ,hope to the wing4 #cb ,rom4 v4 #c1 #d4 ,and thou shalt yet praise ,him4 ,,yet6 ,we cannot venture to scan or measure that word4 ,it may be after many bitter tears of sorrow2--it may be after many struggles with a murmuring heart2--many storms may still sweep--many hours of pining sickness may be endured--many a rough and thorny path may have to be trodden--the harp may be muffled in sadness to the last2 but1 at evening-time it shall be light4 ,there is a season infallibly coming when the fettered tongue shall be loosed--the lingering cloud dispelled--and faith's triumph complete2 when1 with regard to the very dispensation on earth which caused you so much perplexity1 you will be able triumphantly to say1 ,i know 7yea1 ,i ,,see7 that ,thy judgments are right1 and that ,thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me4#cc #cc ,psalm cxix4 #ge4 ,but your depression may proceed from a different cause4 ,it may not be outer trial1 but inward sources of disquietude which are causing despondency and doubt4 ,it may be thoughts regarding your spiritual condition4 ,latent corruption in a partially renewed and sanctified heart1--the power of remaining sin robbing you of your peace2 at times leading you to question whether you have any real interest in ,gospel blessings and ,gospel hopes--whether you have not long ago quenched the strivings of the ,holy ,spirit by your impenitence and unbelief--whether your hopes of heaven may not after all be a shadowy delusive dream4 ,why art thou cast down1 ,o my soul8 ,who1 ,i ask1 is teaching you to breathe out these penitential sighings after a happiness to which at present you feel you are a stranger8 ,who is it that is teaching you thus to interrogate yourself about the erring past8 ,it is not ,nature's work4 ,if there be within you one true breathing after repentance and return1 that secret aspiration is the work of that ,spirit who1 although ,he will not always strive1 is hereby shewing you that ,he is striving still with you6 ,think of all that ,god hath done for you in the past1 and is still willing to do4 ,after the gift of ,his ,son1--after such an expenditure of wrath and suffering on the head of a guiltless ,surety1 and all this that a way of reconciliation might be opened up1--think how dishonouring it would be to distrust either ,his ability or ,his willingness to save you4 ,having bestowed this greatest boon1 ,he will with ,him also freely give you all things4 ,turn away from self1--sinful self1 righteous self1 condemned self1--and direct your believing regards to ,him who is the ,,hope of ,israel and the ,saviour thereof4 ,keep your eye steadily fixed on the infinite grandeur of ,his finished work and righteousness4 ,look to ,jesus and believe6 ,look to ,jesus and live6 ,nay1 more2 as you look to ,him1 hoist your sails1 and buffet manfully the sea of life4 ,do not remain in the haven of distrust1 or sleeping on your shadows in inactive repose1 or suffering your frames and feelings to pitch and toss on one another like vessels idly moored in a harbour4 ,the religious life is not a brooding over emotions1 grazing the keel of faith in the shallows1 or dragging the anchor of hope through the oozy tide-mud1 as if afraid of encountering the healthy breeze4 ,away6 with your canvas spread to the gale1 trusting in ,him who rules the raging of the waters4 ,the safety of the timid bird is to be on the wing1 if its haunt be near the ground1--if it fly low1 it exposes itself to the fowler's net or snare4 ,if we remain grovelling on the low ground of feeling and emotion1 we shall find ourselves entangled in a thousand meshes of doubt and despondency1 temptation and unbelief4 ,but surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of ,,that ,,which ,,hath ,a ,,wing#cd--7marginal reading47 ,they that wait 7or hope7 in the ,lord shall renew their strength2 they shall mount up with wings as eagles4#ce #cd ,prov4 i4 #ag4 #ce ,isaiah xl4 #ca4 ,,hope strengthens and invigorates her pinions the higher she soars4 ,she gathers courage from the past1 and looks with eagle eye to the future4 ,i know1 says ,paul1 in whom ,i have believed1 7hoped1 or trusted17 and am persuaded that ,he is able to keep that which ,i have committed unto ,him4 ,i will hope continually1 says ,david1 and will yet praise ,thee more and more4#cf ,again1 using a kindred emblem--the bird in the tempest rushing for shelter under the mother's wing--,thou hast ,,been my help1 ,,therefore in the shadow of ,thy wings will ,i rejoice4#cg #cf ,psalm lxxi4 #ad4 #cg ,psalm lxiii4 #g4 ,can such be said of the world's hopes8 ,does experience lead to repose in them with similar implicit confidence8 ,hope--the hope of earthly good1 and earthly joy1 and earthly happiness--is often 7too often7 the mirage of life2 the bubble on the stream1 tinted with evanescent glory1 a flash of prismatic beauty1 and then gone6 ,multitudes flock to this enchantress in her cave1 and though mocked and duped1 and mocked and duped again1 still they haunt her oracle1 and kiss her magic wand4 ,she has built for them again and again air castles--turret on turret1 buttress on buttress1 gilded dome and glittering minaret1 and these have melted like frost-work4 ,but yet these ,babel builders1 with the same avidity as ever1 return to the work1 and again the fantastic battlements are piled high in mid air6 ,we do not condemn these noble aspirations and struggles of this noble emotion2--far from it4 ,what would the world be without ,hope8 ,it is the oil which keeps its vast machinery in play2 it is the secret of all success--the incentive to all enterprise4 ,annihilate hope1 and you blot out a sun from the firmament4 ,annihilate hope1 and the husbandman would forsake his furrow1 the physician his patient1 the merchant his traffic2 the student would quench his midnight lamp2 science would at this hour have been lisping its alphabet1 and art and philosophy would have been in their infancy4 ,but this we say1 that if so much is perilled on a peradventure2--if hope--the ignis fatuus of earth--be so greedily pursued1--why the cold and careless indifference regarding the hope which maketh not ashamed--the hope which is beyond the possibility of disappointment2 promises which never fail2 words which rest on a firmer and surer basis than the foundations of earth and the pillars of heaven8 ,shall the disappointed hewer still go on patching the shivered and broken earthly cistern8 ,shall the man of science1 undeterred by successive failures1 pursue his unwearied analysis8 ,shall the merchant remain unbaffled by adverse markets that have drained his coffers1 or successive storms that have stranded his vessels and wrecked his cargo8 ,shall the fragments of a brave army re-muster at the bugle call1 and1 amid dying comrades around and a shower of iron hail in front1 return with undaunted hearts to the charge8 ,shall pining captives in a beleaguered garrison1 pressed by famine1 decimated by disease1 outnumbered by force--shall these light their beacon-fires of hope1 and sit to the last by their smouldering ashes1 struggling on1 either till calm endurance win its recompence1 or until hope and life expire together8 ,and shall the spiritual builder1 or merchant1 or soldier1 be left alone coward and faint-hearted1 and give way to unworthy distrust1 or pusillanimous despair2 and that1 too1 when the guarantees of their hope are so amazing8 ,listen to them6 ,what words could be stronger8 what pledges more inviolable8 ,,in ,,hope of eternal life1 which ,god1 that cannot lie1 promised before the world began4#ch ,wherein ,god1 willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of ,his counsel1 confirmed it by an oath3 that by two immutable things1 in which it was impossible for ,god to lie1 we might have a strong consolation1 who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us3 which hope we have as an anchor of the soul1 both sure and steadfast1 and which entereth into that within the veil4#ci #ch ,titus i4 #b4 #ci ,heb4 vi4 #ag-bj4 ,oh1 beautiful figure6 ,hope casts its anchor into the ,rock of ,ages within the veil4 ,the ship may be tossing in the surging sea below1 but a chain of everlasting love and grace links it to the throne of ,god4 ,i love to walk through the ,bible1 and gaze on its many delineations of ,hope4 ,it is a picture-gallery of this noble grace6 ,as the great painters of the middle ages clung to favourite subjects1 so ,,hope seems ever to meet us in some form or other1 as we tread this long corridor of inspired portraits4 ,here is the earliest4 ,a picture hung in a framework of sorrow4 ,its subject is two drooping exiles going with tears out of ,eden4 ,but1 lo6 a tinge of light gleams in the dark sky1 and the angel of ,hope drops in their ears healing words of comfort4 ,here is another4 ,an ark is tossed in a raging deluge4 ,the heavens are black above4 ,neither sun nor stars appear4 ,all around is a waste wilderness of waters4 ,but1 lo6 by the window of the ark a weary bird is seen fluttering1 and bearing in its mouth an olive branch of ,hope6 ,here1 again1 is a picture called ,the ,father of the ,faithful4 ,its subject is a solitary pilgrim1 one of the world's gray patriarchs4 ,he is treading along amid some wild pastoral hills1 all ignorant of his destiny2 but he has a staff in his hand--it is the staff of ,hope6 ,here is another4 ,it is an ,arabian ,emir1 once a ,prince of the ,east1 sitting amid ashes1 the victim of a loathsome disease2 and worse than all1 of ,satanic power4 ,but ,hope tunes his lips to sing1 ,i know that my ,redeemer liveth4 ,here is a vast exodus of six hundred thousand slaves from a land of bondage1 separated by an inhospitable desert from the land of their fathers2 but ,hope silvers the edges of their pillar of cloud1 and gleams by night in their pillar of fire4 ,here is another picture1 of exiled patriots seated by the waters of ,babylon4 ,they have hung their harps on the willows4 ,they refuse to sing the ,lord's song in that strange land4 ,but ,,hope is represented restoring the broken strings2 and with their eyes suffused with tears1 yet glistening with joyous visions1 thus they pour out their plaintive prayer--,turn again our captivity1 ,o ,lord1 as the streams in the south4#dj #dj ,psalm cxxvi4 #d4 ,time would fail to traverse these halls and walls of ancient memory4 ,,hope1 in every diversified form and attitude1 is portrayed in the history of the glorious company of the apostles1 the goodly fellowship of prophets1 the noble army of martyrs1--ay1 sustaining too1 in the midst of ,his sufferings and sorrows1 the very bosom of the ,son of ,god--for was it not hope 7the joy that was set before ,him7 that made ,him endure the cross1 despising the shame8#da #da ,heb4 xii4 #b4 ,and what ,hope has proved in the history of the ,church collectively1 it is in the life of every individual believer4 ,by nature he is a prisoner1 but a prisoner of hope4#db ,the gospel is a gospel of hope4 ,its message is called the good hope through grace4#dc ,the ,god of the gospel is called the ,god of ,hope4#dd ,the helmet of salvation is the helmet of hope4#de ,the anchor of the soul is the anchor of hope4#df ,the believer rejoices in hope1#dg and abounds in hope4#dh ,christ is in him the hope of glory4#di ,,hope peoples to him the battlements of heaven with sainted ones in the spirit-land4 ,he sorrows not as others1 who have no ,,hope4#ej ,when death comes1 ,hope smoothes his dying pillow1 wipes the damps from his brow1 and seals his eyes4 ,now1 ,lord1 what wait ,i for8 my ,,hope is in ,thee4#ea ,hope stands with her torch over his grave1 and in the prospect of the dust returning to its dust1 he says1 ,my flesh shall rest in hope4#eb ,hope is one of three guardian graces that conduct him to the heavenly gate4 ,now abideth these three1 ,faith1 ,,hope1 and ,love1 and if it be added1 the greatest of these is ,love1 it is because ,hope and her companion finish their mission at the celestial portal6 ,they proceed no further1 they go back to the world1 to the wrestlers in the earthly conflict4 ,faith returns to her drooping hearts1 to undo heavy burdens1 and to let the oppressed go free4 ,hope goes to her dungeon vaults1 her beds of sickness1 her chambers of bereavement and sorrow4 ,to take ,faith or ,hope to heaven1 would be to take the ,physician to the sound man1 or to offer crutches to the strong1 or to help to light the meridian sun with a tiny candle2 ,faith is then changed to sight1 and ,hope to full fruition4 ,,love alone holds on her infinite mission4 ,faith and ,hope are her two soaring pinions4 ,she drops them as she enters the gates of glory4 ,the watcher puts out his beacon when the sun floods the ocean--the miner puts out his lamp when he ascends to the earth4 ,hope's taper light is unneeded in that world where the sun shall no more go down1 neither for brightness shall the moon withdraw itself1 but where the ,lord our ,god shall be an everlasting light1 and the days of our mourning shall be ended4 #db ,zech4 ix4 #ab4 #dc #b ,thess4 ii4 #af4 #dd ,rom4 xv4 #ac4 #de #a ,thess4 v4 #h4 #df ,heb4 vi4 #ai4 #dg ,rom xii4 #ab4 #dh ,rom4 xv4 #ac4 #di ,col4 i4 #bg4 #ej #a ,thess4 iv4 #ac4 #ea ,ps4 xxxix4 #g4 #eb ,ps4 xvi4 #i4 ,,viii4 ,the ,hill ,mizar4 ,all scenes alike engaging prove ,to souls impress'd with sacred love6 ,where'er they dwell1 they dwell in ,thee2 ,in heaven1 in earth1 or on the sea4 ,to me remains nor place nor time2 ,my country is in every clime2 ,i can be calm and free from care ,on any shore1 since ,god is there4 ,while place we seek1 or place we shun1 ,the soul finds happiness in none2 ,but1 with a ,god to guide our way1 ',tis equal joy to go or stay4 ,could ,i be cast where thou art not1 ,that were indeed a dreadful lot2 ,but regions none remote ,i call1 ,secure of finding ,god in all4 --,cowper4 ,it is profitable for ,christians to be often calling to mind the dealings of ,god with their souls4 ,it was ,paul's accustomed manner1 and that when tried for his life1 even to open before his judges the manner of his conversion4 ,he would think of that day and that hour in the which he did first meet with grace1 for he found it support onto him4 ,there was nothing to ,david like ,goliath's sword4 ,the very sight and remembrance of that did preach forth ,god's deliverance to him4 ,oh1 the remembrance of my great sins1 of my great temptations1 and of my great fears for perishing for ever4 ,they bring afresh into my mind the remembrance of mercy and help--my great support from heaven1 and the great grace that ,god extendeth to such a wretch as ,i4--,john ,bunyan4 ,o my ,god1 my soul is cast down within me3 therefore will ,i remember thee from the land of ,jordan1 and of the ,hermonites1 from the hill ,mizar4--,verse #f4 ,,viii4 ,,the ,,hill ,,mizar4 ,in the preceding verse1 we found the ,psalmist chiding his soul for the unreasonableness of its depression--calling upon it to exercise hope and trust in ,god1 under the assurance that he would yet praise ,him for the help of ,his countenance4 ,but what will ye see in the ,shulamite8 ,another experience testifies afresh1 ,as it were the company of two armies4#ec ,,hope has no sooner risen to the surface than despondency returns4 ,the struggling believer threatens to sink4 ,the wave is again beat back4 ,his soul is again cast down6 ,but one word--an old monosyllable of comfort--is borne on the refluent billow1 ,o ,,my ,,god6 ,this strong swimmer in his agony seizes hold of that never-failing support1 the faithfulness of a covenant-keeping ,jehovah4 ,with this he breasts the opposing tide1 and will assuredly at last reach the shore4 ,the very tribulations that are casting him down1--threatening to submerge him1--are only nerving his spirit for bolder feats2 leading him to value more the everlasting arms that are lower and deeper than the darkest wave4 #ec ,sol4 ,song vi4 #ac4 ,we have heard of a bell1 set in a lighthouse1 rung by the sweep of the winds and the dash of the billows4 ,in the calm1 stormless sea1 it hung mute and motionless2 but when the tempest was let loose and the ocean fretted1 the benighted seaman was warned by its chimes2 and beating hearts ashore1 in the fisherman's lonely hut1 listened to its ominous music4 ,we read in the previous verse1 of the lighthouse of ,,faith1 built on the rock of ,,hope4 ,god has placed bells there4 ,but it needs the storms of adversity to blow ere they are heard4 ,in the calm of uninterrupted prosperity1 they are silent and still4 ,but the hurricane arises4 ,the sea of life is swept with tempest1 and1 amid the thick darkness1 they ring the peal of heavenly confidence1 ,,my ,,god1 ,,my ,,god6 ,my ,god6 ,what a heritage of comfort do these words contain--in all time of our tribulation--in all time of our wealth--in the hour of death1 and at the day of judgment6 ,they describe the great ,being who fills heaven with ,his glory1 as the covenant portion and heritage of believers4 ,his attributes are embarked on their side2 ,his holiness and righteousness1 and justice and truth1 are the immutable guarantees and guardians of their everlasting well-being4 ,hear ,his own gracious promise--,i will bring the third part through the fire1 and will refine them as silver is refined1 and will try them as gold is tried3 they shall call on my name1 and ,i will hear them3 ,i will say1 ,it is my people3 and they shall say1 ,the ,lord is my ,god4#ed ,moreover1 ,he is the only possession which is theirs absolutely4 ,all else they have1 is in the shape of a loan1 which they receive as stewards4 ,their time1 their talents1 their possessions1 their friends1 are only leased by them from the ,great ,proprietor of life and being4 ,but they can say unreservedly1 ,the ,lord is my portion4 ,god1 even our ,,own ,god1 shall bless us4 ,ay1 and we are told1 ,god is not ashamed to be called ,,their ,,god4#ee ,the name of the ,lord is thus a strong tower3 the righteous runneth into it1 and is safe4#ef ,that salvation purchased by ,jesus1--the amazing method by which every attribute of the ,divine nature has been magnified1 and every requirement of the ,divine law has been met1--is for walls and bulwarks4 ,the believer not only can lay hold on higher blessings--the good hope through grace1 glory1 honour1 immortality1 eternal life1--but even with regard to the circumstantials of the present1 the appointments and allotments in the house of his pilgrimage1 he can feel that they are so regulated and overruled as best to promote his spiritual interests2 and that all things 7yes1 ,,all things7 are working together for his good4 ,take then1 desponding one6 the opening words of ,david's lamentation4 ,they quiet all apprehensions4 ,this all-gracious ,being who gave ,his own ,son for thee1 must have some wise reason in such discipline4 ,oh1 confide all thy perplexities1 and this perplexity1 into ,his hands1 saying1 ,i am oppressed1 undertake ,,thou for me6 ,who can forget that it was this same monosyllable of comfort that cheered a greater ,sufferer at a more awful hour8 ,the two most memorable spots in ,his midnight of agony1--,gethsemane and ,calvary1 the ,garden and the ,cross1--have this solitary gleam of sunshine breaking through the darkness1 ,o ,,my ,,father6 ,,my ,,god1 ,,my ,,god6 #ed ,zech4 xiii4 #i4 #ee ,heb4 xi4 #af4 #ef ,prov4 xviii4 #aj4 ,let us now proceed to the main feature in this verse4 ,we have already noted how the exiled ,king had tried to reason his soul out of its depression by the exercise of ,,hope--by looking beyond the shadows of the present to a brighter future4 ,but the torch flickered and languished in his hand4 ,he adopts a new expedient4 ,instead of looking to the future1 he resolves to take a retrospective survey2 he directs his eye to the past4 ,as often at eventide1 when the lower valleys are in shadow1 the mountain-tops are gilded with the radiance of the setting sun2 so from the ,valley of ,humiliation1 where he now was1 he looks back on the lofty memorials of ,god's faithfulness4 ,he lifts his eyes unto the ,,hills1 from whence cometh his help4 ,o my ,god1 ,i will remember ,,thee6 ,this is my infirmity1 he seems to say1 when he thinks of the weakness of his faith1 and the fitfulness of his frames and feelings3 but ,i will remember the years of the right hand of the ,most ,high4 ,i will remember the works of the ,lord2 surely ,i will remember ,thy wonders of old4#eg ,with this key he proceeds again to open the door of ,,hope4 ,and as he treads the valley of ,achor1 he sings there as in the days of his youth4#eh #eg ,psalm lxxvii4 #aj1 #aa4 #eh ,hosea ii4 #ae4 ,in connexion with this remembrance of his ,god1 ,david alludes to some well-known places in his ,kingdom--,the land of ,jordan1 and the ,hermonites1 and the hill ,mizar4 ,what means he by this reference8 ,his language may admit of a twofold interpretation4 #a4 ,he may possibly refer to his present sojourn in the region beyond ,jordan1 with the ,hermon range in sight2 and which had this peculiarity1 that it was beyond the old boundary-line of the ,land of ,promise1 making him for the time1 an alien from the commonwealth of ,israel4 ,we know from a passage in ,joshua 7chap4 xxii47 how sacredly the division between the covenant people and the neighbouring tribes was preserved4 ,the latter were denominated a possession unclean2 the former1 the land of the possession of the ,lord1 wherein the ,lord's tabernacle is4 ,how bitter must it have been to a patriotic heart like that of the ,psalmist1 thus to be cut off 7even though for a brief season7 from all participation in national and sanctuary blessings1--to stand outside the land trodden by the footsteps of angels1 consecrated by the ashes of patriarchs1 and over which hovered the shadowing wings of ,jehovah6 ,but he exults in the persuasion that ,israel's ,god is not confined to lands or to sanctuaries4 ,i will remember ,thee1 says the banished monarch4 ,though wandering here beyond the region ,thou hast blest with ,thy favour1 ,i will not cease still to call ,thee and claim ,thee as my ,god1 and to recount all the manifold tokens of ,thy mercy1 even though it be from the 'land of ,jordan1 and of the ,hermonites1 from the hill ,mizar4' ,my foes may drive me from my home1--they may strip me of my regal glories1--they may make me the butt of scorn1 the mark for their arrows2--but they cannot banish me from the better portion and heritage ,i have in ,thy blessed self6 ,if we should ever be in circumstances when1 like ,david1 we are denuded of the means of grace--shut out from the public ministrations of the sanctuary1--or1 what is more common1 placed in a disadvantageous position for spiritual advancement2--when our situation as regards the world1 the family1 business1 pursuits1 companions1 society1 is such as to prove detrimental to the interests of our souls1--let us still remember ,god6 ,let the loss of means1 and privileges1 and opportunities1 and congenial intercourse1 draw us nearer the ,source of all knowledge1 and peace1 and true joy4 ,if the starlight be wanting1 let us prize the sunlight more4 ,if the streams fail1 let us go direct to the fountainhead4 ,yes1 and ,god can make ,his people independent of all outward circumstances4 ,in the court of an ,ethiopian ,queen there was a believing ,treasurer4 ,in the household of ,nero there were illustrious saints4 ,down in the depths of the briny ocean1 imprisoned in the strangest of tombs1 a disobedient prophet remembered ,god1 and his prayer was heard4 ,joseph was torn away from the land of his birth1 and the home where his piety had been nurtured1 but in ,egypt the ,lord was with ,joseph4 ,at my first answer1 says the apostle of the ,gentiles1 no man stood with me1 but all men forsook me4444 ,notwithstanding1 ,,the ,,lord stood by me1 and strengthened me4 ,comforting thought6 that the true ,sanctuary1 of which all earthly ones are the shadowy type1 is ever near3 ,god himself1 the refuge and dwelling-place of ,his people to all generations1 and who1 wherever we are1 can turn the place of forlorn exile--our land of ,jordan1 the ,hermonites1 the hill ,mizar--into scenes bright with manifestations of ,his covenant love4 99 99 99 99 99 #b4 ,but the references to these several localities may admit of a different interpretation4 ,david may be reverting to some memorable epochs in his past history--some green spots in the waste of memory1 where he enjoyed peculiar tokens of ,god's grace and presence4 ,we spoke in last chapter of ,hope's picture-gallery4 ,memory has one1 stranger still--filled with landscapes of imperishable interest6 ,who has not such a gallery in his own soul8 ,let ,memory withdraw her folding-doors--and what do we see8 ,the old homes of cherished infancy may be the first to crowd the walls and arrest the eye2--scenes of life's bright morning1 the sun tipping with his rising beam the dim mountain-heights of the future6 ,in the foreground1 there is the murmuring brook by which we wandered1 and the umbrageous tree under which we sat2--countenances glowing with smiles are haunting every walk and greeting us at every turn--the ringing laugh of childhood at some--venerable forms bending at others4 ,but more hallowed remembrances crowd the canvas4 ,ebenezers and ,bethel-stones appear conspicuous in the distance--mute and silent memorials1 amid the gray mists of the past1 which read a lesson of encouragement and comfort in a desponding and sorrowful present4 ,david thus trod the corridors of memory4 ,when the future was dark and louring1 he surveys picture by picture1 scene by scene1 along the chequered gallery of his eventful life6 ,with ,jordan at his feet1 the ,hermon range in the distance1 and some ,mizar--some little hill 7as the word means7--rising conspicuous in view1 he dwells on various signal instances of ,god's goodness and mercy in connexion with these localities--,i will remember ,thee 7as it may be rendered7 regarding the land of ,jordan1 and of the ,hermonites1 from the hill ,mizar4#ei #ei ,it is said by those who have visited those parts1 that one remarkable effect produced is the changed aspect of the hills of ,judah and ,ephraim4 ,their monotonous character is lost2 and the range1 when seen as a whole1 is in the highest degree diversified and impressive4 ,and the wide openings in the western hills1 as they ascend from the ,jordan valley1 give such extensive glimpses into the heart of the country1 that not merely the general range1 but particular localities can be discovered with ease4444 ,from the castle of ,rubad1 north of the ,jabbok1 are distinctly visible ,lebanon1 the ,sea of ,galilee1 ,esdraelon in its full extent1 ,carmel1 the ,mediterranean1 and the whole range of ,judah and ,ephraim4 ',it is the finest view1' to use the words of another traveller1 'that ,i ever saw in any part of the world4'--,stanley's ,sinai and ,palestine1 p4 #cah4 ,we know the other names to which he here adverts1 but what is this ,,hill ,,mizar8 ,the answer can only be conjectural4 ,it may be some small mountain eminence among the hills of ,judah associated with the experiences of his earlier days4 ,may not memory possibly have travelled back to the old home and valleys of ,bethlehem1 and lighted perchance on the green slope where the youthful champion measured his prowess with the lion and the bear4 ,as the soldier reverts with lively interest to his first battle-field1 so may not the young ,shepherd-,hero have loved to dwell on this ,mizar hill1 where the ,god he served gave him the earnest of more momentous triumphs8 ,or1 to make one other surmise1 may it more likely refer to the little hill he most loved1--the home of his thoughts1 the earthly centre of his affections1 the glory of his kingdom1 the joy of the whole earth--,mount ,zion1 on the sides of the north1 the city of the great ,king8#fj ,we find ,zion spoken of by him emphatically as a little hill4 ,in one of the sublimest of all his ,psalms1 he represents the other loftier mountains of ,palestine1--,bashan with its forests of oak1 ,carmel with its groves of terebinth1 ,lebanon with its cedar-clad summits1--as looking with envy at the tiny eminence amid the wilds of ,judah which ,god had chosen as the place of ,his sanctuary3 ,why look ye with envy1 ye high hills8 this is the hill where ,god desireth to dwell in2 yea1 the ,lord will dwell in it for ever4#fa ,is the hypothesis a forced or unlikely one1 that1 in this his season of sore depression and sorrow1 he loved to linger on manifold experiences of ,god's faithfulness associated with ,zion1--its tabernacle1 its festivals1 its joyous multitudes--his own palace1 that crowned its rocky heights1 where his harp was oft attuned and his psalms composed and sung1 and in which midnight found him rising and giving thanks to ,god because of ,his righteous judgments8 ,in the mind of the ,sweet ,singer of ,israel1 might not glorious things have been thought as well as spoken of thee1 ,o city of ,god8 #fj ,psalm xlviii4 #b4 #fa ,psalm lxviii4 #af4 ,but1 after all1 we need not limit the interpretation to any special locality4 ,the speaker's past history1 from the hour when he was taken from the sheepfolds till now1 was crowded with ,mizars--hill-tops gleaming in the rays of morning4 ,the valley of ,elah1 the wood of ,ziph1 the forest of ,hareth1 the streets of ,ziklag1#fb the caves of ,adullam and ,engedi1--all would recall some special memorial of ,god's delivering hand4 ,he resolves to take the goodness and mercy vouchsafed in the past1 as pledges that ,he would still be faithful who had promised to ,david ,his servant1 ,my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him3 and in my name shall his horn be exalted4#fc ,thou who hast delivered my soul from death1 wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling1 that ,i may walk before ,god in the light of the living8#fd #fb #a ,sam4 xxx4 #f4 #fc ,psalm lxxxix4 #bd4 #fd ,psalm lvi4 #ac4 ,the saints of ,god1 in every age1 have delighted to dwell on these memorable spots and experiences in their past pilgrimage4 ,abraham had his hill ,mizar between ,bethel and ,hai4 ,there1 we read1 he builded an altar1 and called upon the name of the ,lord4#fe ,on his return from ,egypt he retraced his steps to the same locality4 ,why8 ,because it was doubly hallowed to him now1 with these former experiences of ,god's presence and love4 ,it is specially noted that he went on his journeys from the south even to ,bethel1 unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning1 between ,bethel and ,hai2 unto the place of the altar1 which he had made there at the first3 and ,,there he called on the name of the ,lord4#ff ,jacob's ,mizar would doubtless be his ladder-steps at ,bethel1 where the fugitive wanderer was gladdened with a vision of angels1 and the voice of a reconciled ,god4 ,moses would think of his ,mizar either in connexion with the burning bush or the cleft of the rock1 or the ,mount of ,prayer at ,rephidim4 ,isaiah's ,mizar would be the vision of the ,seraphim1 when his faithlessness was rebuked1 and confidence in ,god restored4 ,jeremiah tells us specially of his--some memorable spot where he had a peculiar manifestation of ,god's presence and grace4 ,the ,lord hath appeared of ,,old unto me1 saying1 ,yea1 ,i have loved thee with an everlasting love3 therefore with loving-kindness have ,i drawn thee4#fg #fe ,gen4 xii4 #h4 #ff ,gen4 xiii4 #a-d4 #fg ,jer4 xxxi4 #c4 ,or shall we look to the ,new ,testament8 ,the ,roman ,centurion would remember as his ,mizar-height1 the spot at ,capernaum where mingled ,omnipotence and ,love uttered the healing word4 ,the ,magdalene would remember as hers1 the ,pharisee's banquet-hall1 where she bathed the feet of her ,lord with a flood of penitential tears4 ,the ,maniac of ,gadara would recall as his1 the heights around ,tiberias1 where the demon-throng were expelled1 and where he sat calm and peaceful at the feet of the ,great ,restorer4 ,the ,woman of ,samaria would remember as hers1 the well of ,sychar1 where her ,pilgrim ,lord led her from the earthly to the eternal fountain4 ,peter would remember as his1 the early morn1 and the solitary figure on ,gennesaret's shore4 ,the ,sisters of ,lazarus1 go where they might1 would recall as their hallowed memorial-spot1 the home and the graveyard of ,bethany4 ,paul of ,tarsus would ever remember as his1 the burning plain near ,damascus1 where a light1 brighter than the mid-day sun1 brought him helpless to the ground1 and a voice of mingled severity and gentleness changed the persecutor into a believer--the lion into a lamb4 ,john1 the beloved disciple1 as he trod the solitary isle of his banishment1 or with the trembling footsteps of age lingered in his last home at ,ephesus--,john would recall as the most sacred and hallowed ,mizar of all1 the gentle bosom on which he leant at supper6 ,and who among us have not their ,mizars still8 ,it has often been said that1 next to the ,bible1 there is no book so instructive as that volume which all ,god's people carry about with them--the volume of their own experience4 ,that is my earliest and fondest ,mizar1 says one1 the mother's knee where ,i first lisped my ,saviour's name1 and heard of ,his love4 ,mine1 says another1 is that never-to-be-forgotten sermon1 when ,god's messenger reasoned of righteousness1 temperance1 and a judgment to come2 when conviction was first flashed on my torpid mind1 and peace brought to my troubled soul6 ,mine1 is another's testimony1 is that bed of sickness on which ,i awoke from the long life-dream of indifference1 and gave heed for the first time to the things which belong to my peace4 ,mine1 says another1 is that chamber--that closet of devotion--7alas6 too long and guiltily neglected7 hallowed and associated with a renewed consecration to ,god1 and with manifold tokens of ,his grace and goodness4 ,that hour of resisted temptation1 says another1 is the ,mizar on whose summit my stone of gratitude is raised2--when ,i was trembling on the edge of some precipice1 and ,god's hand interposed and plucked me as a brand from the burning4 ,that awful bereavement is mine1 says still another1 which tore up my affections by the root1 and led me to seek in ,god1 the heritage and portion which no creature-blessing could bestow4 ,it seemed at the time to bode nothing but anger1 but ,i see it now the appointed herald of mercy sent to open up everlasting consolations4 ,that solemn death-bed is mine1 says another1 when ,i saw for the first time the reality of gospel hope in the departing ,christian1 the sweet smile of a foretasted heaven playing upon the lips1 as if the response to the angel-summons1 ,come up hither6 ,it is well for all of us1 and especially in our seasons of depression and sorrow1 thus to retraverse life1 and let our eyes fall on these ,mizar-hills of ,god's faithfulness4 ,in seasons of spiritual depression1 when apt in our sinful despondency to distrust ,his mercy1 and question our own personal interest in the covenant2--when tempted to say with ,gideon1 ,if the ,lord be with us1 why has all this befallen us8--how encouraging to look back1 through the present lowering cloud1 on former instances and memorials of ,jehovah's favour1 when we had the assured sense of ,his presence2 and with an eye resting on these ,mizar-hills on which ,he appeared of old to us1 disappointing our fears1 and more than realizing our fondest hopes1--to remember1 for our comfort1 that having loved us at the beginning1 ,he will love us even to the end6 ,if we can rest on one indubitable token of ,his mercy in the past1 let it be to us a ,covenant-keepsake1 a sweet and precious token and pledge1 that1 though for a small moment ,he may have forsaken us1 yet that with great mercy ,he will gather us1 and that with everlasting kindness ,he will have mercy upon us4#fh #fh ,isa4 liv4 #h4 ,why not thus seek1 in the noblest sense of the word1 to rise above our trials1 and perplexities1 and sorrows1 by taking the bright side of things4 ,there are two windows in every soul4 ,the one looks out on a dreary prospect1--lowering clouds1 barren wilds1 bleak1 sullen hills1 pathways overgrown with rank and noxious weeds4 ,the other opens on what is bright and beauteous1--sunny slopes1 verdant meadows1 luscious flowers1 the song of birds4 ,many there are who sit always at the former--gazing on the dark side of things1 nursing their sorrows1 brooding over their trials4 ,they can see nothing but ,sinai and ,horeb--the trail of serpents and the lair of wild beasts4 ,others1 with a truer gospel-spirit1 love1 with hopeful countenance1 to watch the breaking of the sunbeam in the darkened sky4 ,like ,paul1 they seat themselves at the bright lattice1 saying1 ,rejoice in the ,lord alway1 and again ,i say1 rejoice4 ,both look on identically the same landscape4 ,but the one descry only dull heaths and moors draped in sombre hue4 ,the others see these glorified with sunlight4 ,the one gaze on nothing but inky skies and drenching torrents4 ,the others behold the bow of heaven arching the sky1 and the rain-drops glittering like jewels on leaf1 and grass1 and flower4 ,the one can descry only ,hill ,difficulties and ,doubting ,castles4 ,the others love to gaze on ,hermons and ,mizars1 on the ,palace of the ,beautiful1--the land of ,beulah2--and1 bounding the prospect1 the towers and streets of the ,celestial ,city4 ,they are ready to acknowledge that1 however many may have been their tribulations1 their mercies are greater and more manifold still2--that however many the shadowy valleys1 the bright spots outnumber the dreary4 ,are any who read these pages cast down by reason of trouble1 and perplexity1 and sorrow8 ,is ,god's hand lying heavily upon you--are you in darkness1 and in the deeps8 ,seek to lift the eye of faith to ,him4 ,seasons of trial must either bring us nearer to ,him1 or drive us further from ,him4 ,it is an old saying1 ,affliction never leaves us as it finds us4 ,it either leads us to remember ,god1 or to banish and forget ,him4 ,how many there are 7and how sad is their case7 who1 when ,providence seems to frown1--when their hearts are smitten like grass1 their cherished hopes blighted1 their gourds withered1--are led1 in the bitterness of their spirits1 to say1 ,my soul is cast down within me4 therefore1 ,i will pine away in disconsolate sorrow4 ,i will rush to ruin and despair4 ,my lot is hard1 my punishment is greater than ,i can bear2--all that made life happiness to me has perished2--,,therefore1 ,i will harden my heart4 ,i do well to be angry1 even unto death4 ,existence has no charm for me4 ,i long to die--my only rest will be the quiet of the grave6 ,sorrowing one6 be yours a nobler philosophy4 ,look back from these valleys of death and tribulation1 to the gleaming summits of yonder distant ,mizar hills6 ,mark1 in the past1 the tokens and memorials of unmistakeable covenant love4 ,call to remembrance your song in former nights4 ,wounded ,hart6 on the hills of ,gilead1 forget not thy former pastures4 ,go6 stricken and smitten1 with the tears in thine eyes1 bathe thy panting sides in the cooling water-brooks4 ,when the disturbers of thy peace have gone1 and when hushed again is thy forest home1 return to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense4 ,go1 minstrel monarch of ,judah1 weeping exile6 seat thyself on some rocky summit on these ridges of ,hermon1 and1 surveying mountain height on mountain height1 in the land of covenant promise1--each associated with some hallowed memory1--take down thy harp1 and sing one of thine own songs of ,zion4 ,thou who hast shewed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again1 and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth6#fi #fi ,psalm lxxi4 #bj4 ,,ix4 ,the ,climax4 ,god of my life1 to ,thee ,i call1 ,afflicted at ,thy feet ,i fall2 ,when the great water-floods prevail1 ,leave not my trembling heart to fail6 ,there is but a step from the third heavens to the thorn in the flesh4--,winslow4 ,deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts3 all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me4 ,yet the ,lord will command his loving-kindness in the day-time1 and in the night his song shall be with me1 and my prayer unto the ,god of my life4--,verses #g1 #h4 ,,ix4 ,,the ,,climax4 ,the storm-struggle in the soul of the ,psalmist is now at its height4 ,in the previous verse1 he had penetrated through the mists of unbelief that were surrounding him1 and rested his eye on the ,mizar hills of the ,divine faithfulness in a brighter past4 ,but the sunshine-glimpse was momentary4 ,it has again passed away4 ,his sky is anew darkened--rain-clouds sweep the horizon--,deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts4 ,amid the environing floods he exclaims1 ,all thy waves and thy billows have gone over me6 ,the figure is a bold and striking one4 ,some have thought it has reference to the sudden rush of water-torrents from the heights of ,lebanon and ,hermon2--that it was suggested by the roaring cataracts at his feet--,jordan with its swollen and winding rapids--the faithful picture of the deep-worn channels in his own spirit--fretted and furrowed with the rush of overwhelming sorrow4 ,but the word rendered deep1 is1 in the original ,hebrew1 more applicable to the floods of the ocean than to the rapids of a river2 and the image1 in this sense1 is bolder and more expressive still4#gj ,billow calls on billow to sweep over the soul of the sufferer4 ,they lift their crested heads1 and with hoarse voice summon one another to the assault4 ,let us be confederate6 say they4 ,let us rouse the spirit of the storm6 ,let the windows of heaven be opened6 ,let the fountains of the great deep be broken up1 that we may shake this man's confidence in his ,god1 and plunder faith of her expected triumph6 ,ye angry tempests1 driving sleet and battering hail6 come and aid us4 ,ye forked lightnings1 gleaming swords of the sky6 leap from your cloudy scabbards4 ,old ocean6 be stirred from your lowest depths4 ,let every wave be fretted to madness1 that with one united effort we may effect his discomfiture and leave him a wreck on the waters6 #gj ,from the uplands where he now was1 in the recesses between the mountains of ,gilead1 ,david could catch here and there a glimpse of the ,great ,sea4 ,they obey the summons4 ,already chafed and buffeted1 they return with fresh violence to the shock4 ,affliction on affliction1 temptation on temptation1 roll on this lonely1 surf-beaten cliff4 ,outward calamities--inward troubles2 his subjects in revolt--his friends treacherous2 his own son and favourite child heading the insurrection2 he himself an exile1 haunted with the thought of past sins that were now exacting terrible retribution2--and worse than all temporal calamities1 the countenance of his ,god averted4 ,affliction seemed as if it could go no further--,,all thy waves and thy billows have gone over me6 ,we believe there are periods in the history of most of ,god's people corresponding to the awful experience recorded in this verse4 ,few there are who cannot point to some sad and memorable epochs alike in their natural and spiritual being1--some solemn and critical crisis-hours1 in which they have been subjected to special and peculiar trials2--encompassed with the thunders and lightnings of ,sinai--the trumpet sounding long and loud3--or1 to revert to the simile of the ,psalm1 when the moorings of life have been torn away1 and they have been left to drift1 on a starless1 tempestuous ocean4 ,often1 as with ,david1 there may at such times be a combination of trials1--sickness--bereavement--loss of worldly substance--estrangement of friends--blighting of fair hopes4 ,then1 following on these1 and worse than all1 hard thoughts of ,god4 ,we see the wicked around prospering1--vice apparently pampered1--virtue apparently trodden under foot1--many passing through life without an ache or trial--their homes unrifled--their hearts unwounded--their every plan prospering--fortune smiling benignantly at every turn2 while we seem to have been a target for the arrows of misfortune1--tempted with ,jeremiah to say1 ,i am ,,the man who have seen affliction by the rod of ,his wrath4#ga ,and doubting a ,god of providence1 the next step is to doubt a ,god of grace4 ,we begin to question our interest in the covenant1--to wonder whether1 after all1 our hopes of heaven have been a delusion and a lie4 ,god's mercy we imagine to be gone for ever4 ,he seems as if ,he would be favourable no more4 ,there is no comfort in prayer--no brightness in the promises2 the ,bible is a sealed book2--the heavens have become as brass and the earth as iron6 ,oh1 so long as we had merely external trials1 we could brave and buffet the surrounding floods4 ,so long as we had the ,divine smile1 like the bow in the cloud1 resting upon us1 we could gaze in calmness on the blackest sky2--yea1 rejoice in trial1 as only unfolding to us more of the preciousness of the ,saviour4 ,but when we have the cloud without the bow1--when outer trials come to a soul in spiritual unrest and trouble1--when we harbour the suspicion that the only ,being who could befriend in such an hour has ,himself hidden ,his face1--when we have neither this world nor the next to comfort us--smitten hopes for time and despairing hopes for eternity6--this is the woe of woes--the horror of great darkness1--deep calleth unto deep4 ,we can say1 with a more terrible emphasis far than the smitten patriarch1 ,i ,,am bereaved6 #ga ,lam4 iii4 #a4 ,the ,psalmist had now reached this extremity4 ,it is the turning point of his present experience4 ,he has two alternatives before him3--either to suffer unbelief to triumph1 to distrust ,god1 abandon the conflict1 and sink as lead in the surging waters2 or to gather up once more his spiritual resources1 breast the waves1 and manfully buffet the storm4 ,it is with him now1 as with a sinking disciple in a future age3--when the storm is loudest and the midnight is darkest1 the voice and footsteps of his ,god are heard on the waves3 ,and about the fourth watch of the night1 ,jesus came to the disciples1 walking on the sea4 ,this poor man cried1 and the ,lord heard him1 and saved him out of all his troubles6#gb #gb ,psalm xxxiv4 #f4 ,and what is the first gleam of comfort which crests these topmost waves8 ,it is discerning the hand and appointment of ,god in all his afflictions6 ,he speaks of ,thy waves and ,thy billows4 ,these floods do not riot and revel at the bidding of chance4 ,the ,lord sitteth upon the water-floods4#gc ,while1 in one sense1 it aggravated his trials to think of them as ,divine chastisements--the expressions of the ,divine displeasure at sin--yet how unspeakable the consolation that every billow rolled at the summons of ,omnipotence4 ,the floods1 he can say1 have lifted up1 the floods have lifted up their voice2 the floods lift up their waves4 ,the ,lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters1 yea1 than the mighty waves of the sea4#gd ,o ,lord our ,god1 who is a strong ,lord like unto thee8 ,thou rulest the raging of the sea3 when the waves thereof arise1 thou stillest them4#ge #gc ,psalm xxix4 #aj4 #gd ,psalm xciii4 #c1 #d4 #ge ,psalm lxxxix4 #h1 #i4 ,but he could go further than this4 ,he could triumph in the assurance of ,god's returning favour2--that behind these troubled elements there was seated a ,being of unchanging faithfulness and love4 ,already the lowering mist was beginning to clear off the mountains1 and the eye of faith to descry sunny patches of golden light gleaming in the hollows4 ,soon he knew the whole landscape would be flooded with glory4 ,the sailor does not discredit the existence of the beacon or lighthouse1 or alter the direction of his vessel1 because the fog prevents these being seen4 ,nay rather1 he strains his eyes more keenly through the murky curtain1 in hopes of hailing their guidance4 ,when a cloud or clouds are passing over the sun's disc1 and hiding it from view1 the sunflower does not1 on account of the momentary intervention1 hang its head1 or cease to turn in the direction of the great luminary4 ,it keeps still gazing upwards with wistful eye1 as if knowing that the clouds will soon roll past1 and that it will ere long again be bathed in the grateful beams6 ,so it was with ,david4 ,he felt that the countenance of his ,god1 though hidden1 was not eclipsed4 ,this pining flower on the mountains of ,gilead does not droop in the anguish of unbelief1 when the ,sun of his soul is for the moment obscured4 ,he knew that there would yet arise light in the darkness4 ,amid the roll of the billows--the moaning of the blast--he listens to celestial music4 ,its key-note is the loving-kindness of his ,god4 ,while the heavens are still black1 and the tempest raging1 he lifts the voice of faith above the war of the storm1 and thus sings3--,yet the ,lord will command his loving-kindness in the day-time1 and in the night his song shall be with me1 and my prayer unto the ,god of my life6 ,,yet the ,lord6 ,the believer1 even in his deepest and darkest season of trouble1 has always this alternative word--,,yet the ,lord will6 ,i am sunk in sore trial--,yet the ,lord will be faithful to ,his promises6 ,i have been bereaved of those near and dear to me--,yet the ,lord will be to me a name better than that of son or daughter6 ,i have been laid for long years on this couch of suffering--,yet the ,lord has converted this lonely sick-chamber into the vestibule of heaven4 ,i have been tossed and harassed with countless spiritual temptations--,yet the ,lord will not suffer these temptations to go further than ,i am able to bear4 ,i am soon to walk through the dark valley--,yet will ,i fear no evil1 for ,thou art with me6 ,the ,psalmist's assurance of deliverance was indeed the test of no meagre faith4 ,we know well1 how apt we are to be influenced and affected by present circumstances4 ,when all is bright1 and genial1 and prosperous1--amid a happy home and kind friends1--in the midst of robust health and flourishing worldly schemes1 the buoyant heart is full of elasticity4 ,the joy without1 imparts an inner sunshine4 ,a man is happy and hopeful in spite of himself4 ,but if all at once he is plunged into a vortex of trouble1--if clouds gather and thicken around1--the mind not only becomes the prey of its own trials1 but it peoples the future with numberless imaginary evils1 and its very remaining joys and blessings become tinged and sicklied over with the predominating sadness6 ,it could as little be expected1 on natural principles1 that the heart could in such circumstances be hopeful and rejoicing1 as to expect that the outer landscape of nature would glow and sparkle with beauty1 if the clouds of heaven obscured the great fountain of light4 ,but faith1 strong in ,god's word1 can triumph over natural obstacles4 ,it did so in the case of this afflicted exile4 ,he remembered how his ,god had vouchsafed past deliverances1 even when he least expected them2--,they looked unto ,,him and were lightened#gf literally1 their countenances were made bright4 ,he feels assured that the same loving-kindness will be commanded still4 ,he sees ,god's covenant faithfulness resting calmly and beautifully1 like the rainbow-tints in the spray of the cataract6 ,who is among you that feareth the ,lord1 that obeyeth the voice of his servant1 that walketh in darkness1 and hath no light8 let him trust in the name of the ,lord1 and stay upon his ,god4#gg #gf ,psalm xxxiv4 #e4 #gg ,isaiah l4 #aj4 ,this experience we have been considering is that of ,christ's people only4 ,but there is an experience sadder still3 that of those who are living without ,god1 and therefore without hope2--the billows heaving1 and yet they knowing not of them2--deep calling to deep1 yet they ignorant alike of their guilt and danger6 ,there is nothing more sad or touching in the midst of a storm1--when the vessel is reeling on the waves1 and little expectation of safety is left1--than to see1 amidst the settled gloom of despair1 the little child playing on the deck1 all unaware of what is impending2--or1 at a time of heart-rending bereavement1 when every face of the household is muffled in sadness and suffused with tears1 to hear the joyous laugh and playful prattle of unconscious infancy4 ,ah6 of how many is this the position with regard to eternity2--living heedless of their danger--the waves of destruction ready to close over them6 ,sadder far1 surely1 is their case1 than all the troubles and trials of ,god's most afflicted people4 ,their waves and billows are crested with hope--songs in the night come floating along the darkened surges2 but the future to the others has no ray of hope1 no midnight star1 no divine song6 ,there is a time coming when1 in a more awful sense1 the cry will be heard1 ,deep calleth unto deep3 all ,thy waves and ,thy billows have gone over me6 ,but there will be no after-strain--no joyous anthem of anticipated deliverance--,yet the ,lord will command ,his loving-kindness6 ,in vain will the cry ascend1 ,my heart is overwhelmed3 lead me to the ,rock that is higher than ,i4 ,but1 blessed be ,god1 that cry may ascend now--that ,rock may be fled to as a shelter now4 ,sinner6 these waves swept over the ,rock of ,ages1 that they might not sweep over you6 ,sheltered in these crevices1 you will be eternally safe4 ,not one blast of the storm1 not one drop of the rain-shower of vengeance1 can overtake you4 ,when the billows of wrath--the deluge of fire--shall roll over this earth1 safe in these everlasting clefts1 you may utter the challenge1 ,who shall separate me from the love of ,christ8 ,x4 ,lessons4 ,when darkness long has veil'd my mind1 ,and smiling day once more appears1 ,then1 my ,redeemer1 then ,i find1 ,the folly of my doubts and fears3 ,straight ,i upbraid my wandering heart1 ,and blush that ,i should ever be ,thus prone to act so base a part ,or harbour one hard thought of ,thee6 ,here deep calls to deep4 ,yet in the midst of those deeps faith is not drowned4 ,you see it lifts its head above water4--,bishop ,hall4 ,we perceive the ,psalmist full of perplexed thought1 and that betwixt strong desires and griefs1 and yet in the midst of them intermixing strains of hope with his sad complaints4444 ,what is the whole thread of our life but a chequered twist1 black and white1 of delights and dangers interwoven8 ,and the happiest passing of it is1 constantly to enjoy and to observe the experiences of ,god's goodness1 and to praise ,him for them4--,archbishop ,leighton1 #afdi4 ,deep calleth unto deep at the noise of the water-spouts3 all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me4 ,yet the ,lord will command his loving-kindness in the day-time1 and in the night his song shall be with me1 and my prayer unto the ,god of my life4--,verses #g1 #h4 ,x4 ,,lessons4 ,in the previous chapter we spoke of the two verses which form the turning-point in the ,psalm1--the climax of the conflict therein so strikingly described between belief and unbelief4 ,we referred to the boldness and expressiveness of the figure3 the troubles of the believer1 like the billows of the ocean calling on one another to unite their strength that they might effect his overthrow1 but faith rising triumphant above them all4 ,at times1 when all human comfort gives way1 ,god himself appears4 ,the voice of the ,lord is upon the waters4#gh ,he not only commands ,his loving-kindness in the day-time1 but in ,,the ,,night ,his song is with us4 ,our heavenly ,parent comes in earth's darkest1 most tempestuous hours1 sits by our side1 sings ,his night-song--,his own lullaby--,,peace1 ,,be ,,still6 ,so giveth ,he ,his beloved sleep6#gi ,god's songs sound always sweetest by night--the deep1 dark night of affliction4 ,the nightingale's notes are nothing by day--they would be lost in the chorus of other birds2 but when these have retired to their nests1 she prolongs her tuneful descant1 and serenades1 with her warblings1 the silent earth4 ,the world can only give its song by day4 ,it can speak only in the sunshine of prosperity4 ,but ,god our ,maker giveth songs in the night6#hj ,his promises1 like the nightingale1 sound most joyously1 and1 like the glow-worm1 shine most brightly1 in the dark6 #gh ,psalm xxix4 #c4 #gi ,psalm cxxvii4 #b4 #hj ,job xxxv4 #aj4 ,let us pause ere proceeding with the sequel of the ,psalm1 and ponder the great lesson to be derived from this experience of ,david4 ,it is1 to ,,trust ,,god in the darkest1 gloomiest night of earthly trial6 ,to wait ,his own time1 and to say1 when the billows are highest1 ,yet the ,lord will-- ,this is one great end and design of trial1 to exercise the grace of patience4 ,there is nothing ,god loves better than a waiting soul4 ,the ,lord is good to them that wait for ,him4#ha ,i waited patiently1 says ,david1 in another ,psalm1 7or1 as it is literally1 ,i waited1 waited17 for the ,lord1 and ,he inclined unto me1 and heard my cry4#hb ,i know thy works1 says ,jesus1 speaking of old1 in the language of commendation1 to ,his church at ,ephesus3 how thou hast ,,borne1 and hast patience1 and for my name's sake hast laboured1 and hast not ,,fainted4#hc ,how often has our way appeared to be hedged up with thorns1--as if there were no possibility of egress6 ,in sailing among some of our own ,highland lakes and inland seas1 where the mountains1 in a thousand fantastic forms1 rise abrupt from the shore1 we frequently seem to be landlocked1 and able to get no farther4 ,yet the vessel pursues its serpentine course2 and as we double the first jutting promontory1 the lake again expands2 the same waters appear beyond1 gleaming like a mirror of molten gold4 ,we find what we imagined to be an impassable barrier1 is only a strait1 opening into new combinations of mountain majesty and beauty4 ,so is it in the ,voyage of life4 ,often1 in its fitful turnings and windings1 do we seem to be arrested in our way2--,hill ,difficulties rising before us1 and appearing to impede our vessel's course2--but as faith steers onwards1 impediments vanish1 new vistas and experiences of loving-kindness open up4 ,where we expected to be stopped by walls of frowning rock and barren mountains1 lo6 limpid waves are seen laving the shore1 and joyful cascades are heard singing their way to the silver strand6 #ha ,lam iii4 #de4 #hb ,psalm xl4 #a4 #hc ,rev4 ii4 #c4 ,and not only does ,god thus command ,his loving-kindness in disappointing our fears1 but in the night ,his song shall be with us4 ,he will turn the very midnights of our sorrow into occasions of grateful praise6 ,yes6 if not now1 we shall come yet to see the needs be of every trial4 ,we have only a partial view here of ,god's dealings--,his half-completed1 half-developed plan2 but all will stand out in fair and graceful proportions in the great finished ,temple of ,eternity6 ,go1 in the reign of ,israel's greatest ,king1 to the heights of the forest of ,lebanon4 ,see that noble ,cedar1 the pride of its compeers1 an old wrestler with the northern blasts of ,palestine6 ,summer loves to smile upon it--night spangles its feathery foliage with dew-drops--the birds nestle on its branches--the wild deer slumber under its shadow--the weary pilgrim1 or wandering shepherd1 repose under its curtaining boughs from the mid-day heat or from the furious storm2 but all at once it is marked out to fall1--the old denizen of that primeval forest is doomed to succumb to the woodman's stroke6 ,as we see the unsparing axe making its first gash on its gnarled trunk--then the noble limbs stripped of their branches--and at last the proud ,tree of ,god coming with a crash to the ground2 we exclaim against the wanton destruction--the demolition of this noblest of pillars in the temple of nature1--and we are tempted to cry with the prophet1 as if inviting the sympathy of every lowlier stem--invoking inanimate things to resent the affront--,howl1 fir-tree1 for the cedar has fallen6 ,but wait a little6--follow that gigantic trunk as the workmen of ,hiram launch it down the mountain side1--thence conveyed in monster rafts along the blue waters of the ,mediterranean1--and last of all1 behold it set a glorious polished beam in the ,temple of ,god2--and then1 as you see its destination1--gazing down on the very ,holy of ,holies1 set in the diadem of the ,great ,king2--say1 can you grudge that the crown of ,lebanon was despoiled1 in order that this jewel might have so noble a setting8 ,that cedar stood as a stately beam and pillar in nature's temple1 but the glory of the latter house was greater than the glory of the former4 ,how many of our souls are like these cedars of ,god6 ,his axes of trial have stripped and bared them1--we see no reason for dealings so dark and mysterious2 but ,he has a noble end and object in view--to set them as everlasting pillars and rafters in ,his heavenly temple1 to make them a crown of glory in the hand of the ,lord1 and a royal diadem in the hand of our ,god6 ,or take another illustration4 ,go to one of our graving-docks1 where the weather-beaten vessel has been weeks or months in the carpenter's hands4 ,her started timbers are replaced1 her shattered keel renewed1 the temporary props and scaffoldings have been removed1 and with her gay streamers afloat1 and her crew on deck1 she stands ready and equipped for sea4 ,what is needed8 ,nothing but the opening of the sluices1 to reunite her to her old watery element4 ,she lies a helpless1 decrepit thing1 till these dock-gates be opened1 and the buoyant waves rush to clasp her anew in their embrace4 ,it is done6 ,but at first all is noise1 and wrath1 and tumult4 ,these gurgling waters1 discoloured with mud and sediment1 convert the noble granite basin into an inky1 turgid whirlpool4 ,ere long1 however1 the strife ceases2 the great wooden wall raises itself like a child that has been awoke in its cradle by the voice of the storm--the waters gradually calm and subside2--higher and still higher is the vessel lifted1 till1 amid the cheers of the crew1 she passes by the opened gates1 and1 with every sail spread to the breeze1 is off to new voyages in her ocean-home4 ,child of trial6 vessel of mercy6 your ,god sees meet at times to bring you into the graving-dock1 that ,he may put ,his tools upon you1 and refit and prepare you for the great voyage of immortality4 ,when ,he opens the sluices of trial1 you may see no mercy in ,his dealings4 ,it may be deep calling to deep--the roar and heaving of antagonist waters2 they may at first1 too1 stir up nothing but the dregs and sediment of sin1--expose the muddy pools1 the deep corruptions of the heart4 ,but be still6 ,he will yet vindicate the rectitude and wisdom of ,his own procedure4 ,ere long1 these surging waves will settle peacefully around you1 the shadows of heaven reflected in their glassy surface2 and better still1 strengthened and renovated by that season of trial1 you will go forth from the ,graver's hands more ready to brave the billows1 grapple with the tempest1 and reach at last the haven where you would be6 ,it is hard discipline--the undowny pillow1 the trench-work and midnight vigils--which makes the better soldier4 ,the type of strength in the kingdom of inanimate nature is not the sickly plant of the hot-house1 or the tree or bush choked in the dark jungle2 but the pine rocked by ,alpine or ,norwegian tempests1 or the oak mooring its roots in the rifted rock6 ,david would neither have been the ,king nor the ,saint he was1 but for the caves of ,adullam and ,engedi1 the rocks of the wild goats1 the forest exile of ,hermon and ,gilead4 ,he had to thank affliction for his best spiritual graces4 ,the redeemed in glory are ready to tell the same4 ,we would never have been here but for these storms of 'great tribulation4' ,but for the loss of that child--that worldly calamity--that protracted sickness--that cutting disappointment--that wounding of my heart's affection--that annihilation of earthly pride and ambition--that 'deep calling to deep'--,i would not now have been wearing this crown6 ,trials have been well compared to the winds ,god employs to fill our sails and fetch us home to the harbour of everlasting peace6#hd #hd ,see ,life ,thoughts4 ,the author has been more than once indebted1 in this volume1 to this suggestive little book4 99 99 99 99 99 ,one word of caution ere we close this chapter4 ,from all we have said--of deeps and floods1 storms and water-spouts1 and midnight darkness--are any to leave these pages with the feeling that ,religion is a gloomy1 repulsive thing2--that the believer's life is one of darkness and despair2--that better far is the world's gaiety and folly--the merry laugh of its light-hearted votaries--than a life of sadness like this8 ,mistake us not6 ,we repeat what we have already said4 ,the experience we have been now considering is1 in many respects1 peculiar2 one of those dark passages which stand alone in the diary of the spiritual life4 ,religion gloomy6 ,who says so8 ,shall we take ,st ,paul as our oracle8 ,what is his testimony8 ,in all his letters he tries to crowd as much as he can into little space4 ,in one of these1 he has room for only two injunctions4 ,but instead of giving two that are different1 he prefers to repeat the one4 ,it is the emphatic tautology1 ,rejoice in the ,lord alway3 and ,,again ,i say1 ,,rejoice4#he ,or shall we seek a different tribunal8 ,go gather together all the philosophers of antiquity--,plato1 ,socrates1 ,aristotle4 ,bring together the wise men of ,greece--the philosophers of ,alexandria--the sages of ,rome4 ,ask if their combined and collected wisdom ever solved the doubts of one awakened soul1 as have done these leaves of this ,holy ,book8 ,which of them ever dried the tear of widowhood as these8 ,which of them ever smoothed the cheek of the fatherless as these8 ,which of them ever lighted the torch of hope and peace at the dying bed as these1 and flashed upon the departing soul visions of unearthly joy8 ,o pagan darkness6 where was thy song in the night8 ,in the region and shadow of death1 where did thy light arise8 #he ,phil4 iv4 #d4 ,but ,,we have a more sure word of prophecy1 to which we do well to take heed1 as unto a light shining in a dark place4 ,the ,christian is the man who alone can wear the sunny countenance4 ,the peace of ,god1 keeping the heart within1 cannot fail to be mirrored in the look and life without6 ,and if 7as often is the case7 he has his appointed seasons of trial--the sea of life swept with storms of great tribulation--it is with him as with yonder ocean4 ,to the eye of the young voyager1 gazing on its mountain billows1 it would seem as if its lowest caverns were stirred1 and the world were rocking to its foundations2 while1 after all1 it is only a surface-heaving6 ,there are deeps1 unfathomed deeps1 of calm rest and peace1 down in that ocean's undisturbed recesses4 ,believer in ,jesus6 with all thy trials1 thou art a happy man4 ,go on thy way rejoicing4 ,tribulation may fret and ruffle the calm of thy outer life1 but nothing can touch the deeps of thy nobler being4 ,troubles may rise1 and terrors may frown1 and days of darkness may fall around thee1 but ,thou wilt keep him1 ,o ,god1 ,,in ,,perfect ,,peace whose mind is stayed on ,,thee6 ,,xi4 ,faith and ,prayer4 ,rock of ,ages1 cleft for me1 ,let me hide myself in ,thee6 ,the soul of man serves the purpose1 as it were1 of a workshop to ,satan1 in which to forge a thousand methods of despair4 ,and therefore it is not without reason that ,david1 after a severe conflict with himself1 has recourse to prayer1 and calls upon ,god as the witness of his sorrow4--,calvin on the ,psalms4 ,i will say unto ,god my rock1 ,why has thou forgotten me8 why go ,i mourning because of the oppression of the enemy8 ,as with a sword in my bones1 mine enemies reproach me2 while they say daily unto me1 ,where is thy ,god8--,verses #i1 #aj4 ,,xi4 ,,faith ,,and ,,prayer4 ,touching was that scene which occurred three thousand years ago on the borders of ,palestine3 aged ,naomi1 in returning to the land of her own kindred from her sojurn in ,moab1 pausing to take a last farewell of her two loving daughters-in-law6 ,one of these refuses to part from her4 ,strong may be the inducement to ,ruth to return to the home of her childhood1 and1 above all1 to the spot where hallowed dust reposes 7the buried treasure of her young affections74 ,but ties stronger than death link her soul to the one who had shared for ten years her joys and sorrows4 ,with impassioned tears1 she announces her determination6 ,her resolve may entail upon her manifold sacrifices4 ,she may be going to an alien people--to a home of penury--to bleak and barren wilds1 compared with her own fertile vales4 ,but she is ready for any toil1 any self-denial1 if only permitted to retain the companionship of that living1 loving heart1 which had been to her all that earthly tenderness could be4 ,such1 if we may compare an earthly with a heavenly affection1 were the feelings of the banished ,king of ,judah1 at this time towards his ,god4 ,all the temptations that have been assailing him have not repressed the ardour of his faith1 or diminished the fervour of his love4 ,unbelief had done its best to sever the holy bond which linked him to his ,heavenly ,friend2 but1 like the tender-hearted ,moabitess from whom he sprung1 he will submit to any privation rather than be parted from ,him whose favour is life4 ,entreat me not to leave ,thee1 is the spirit at least of his fervid aspiration2 nor to return from following after ,thee4 ,where ,thou goest ,i will go1 and where ,thou dwellest ,i will dwell2 and death itself shall not separate between ,thee and me4 ,as ,peter1 in a future age1 rushed to the feet of that ,saviour he had again and again wounded1 so these many waters 7the deep calling to deep7 cannot quench the ,psalmist's love1 nor many floods drown it4 ,the voice of malignant taunt and scorn1 ,where is now thy ,god8 might have driven others to despair2 but it only rouses him up1 in the midnight of his struggle1 to the exercise of new spiritual graces4 ,i shall not1 he seems to say1 surrender my holy trust2 ,i know the graciousness of the ,god with whom ,i have to deal4 ,nothing will tempt me to abandon my interest in the covenant4 ,i shall take a new weapon from the ,divine armoury2 with it ,i shall seek to decide the conflict4 ,no gibes of the scoffer1 no rebellious son1 no crafty ,ahithophel1 can rob me of the privilege of ,,prayer4 ,i will say unto ,god my ,rock1 ,why hast ,thou forgotten me8 why go ,i mourning because of the oppression of the enemy8 ,it is1 then1 a combined exercise of faith1 and prayer1 on the part of ,david1 we are now called to consider4 ,out of weakness he is made strong1 waxes valiant in fight1 and turns to flight the armies of the aliens4 ,let us advert to each in their order4 ,,faith regards ,god here under a twofold aspect4 #a4 ,it looks to ,him as an ,,immutable ,,god4 ,amid the fitfulness of his own feelings1 this was the ,psalmist's consolation--,god my ,,rock6 ,what a source of comfort is there here in the immutability of ,jehovah4 ,all else around us is unstable4 ,external nature bears on every page of its volume the traces of mutation4 ,earth has the folds already on its vesture--the wrinkles of age on its brow4 ,the ocean murmurs of change1 as its billows chafe on altered landmarks4 ,human friendships and human associations are all fluctuating4 ,so are our habits1 and tastes1 and employments4 ,the old man looking back from some hoary pinnacle on the past1 almost questions his personal identity2 and these emptied chairs6--these faces1 once glowing at our firesides1 now greeting our gaze only in mute and silent portraits on the wall6 ,here we have no continuing city1 is the oracle of all time4 ,but ,,thou art the same1 and ,thy years shall have no end4#hf ,heaven and earth may pass away1 but there is no change1 and can be none1 in an all-perfect ,god6 ,the wheel turns round1 but the axle is immutable4 ,the clouds which obscure the sun do not descend from heaven--they are exhaled from earth4 ,it is the soul's own darkening vapours1 generated by unbelief and sin1 which at times taint and obscure the moral atmosphere4 ,behind every such murky haze ,he shines brightly as ever4 ,hast thou not known8 hast thou not heard1 that the everlasting ,god1 the ,lord1 the ,creator of the ends of the earth1 fainteth not1 neither is weary8#hg ,young sailors1 says ,rutherford1 imagine the shore and land moving1 while it is they themselves all the while4 ,so we often think that ,god is changing1 when the change is all with ourselves6 #hf ,psalm cii4 #bg4 #hg ,isaiah x4 #bh4 #b4 ,faith regards this immutable ,god as a ,god in covenant4 ,,my ,rock6 ,believer6 you have the same immovable ground of confidence6 ,look to ,,your ,god in ,christ1 who has made with you an everlasting covenant1 ordered in all things1 and sure6 ,he1 willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of ,his counsel1 confirmed it by an oath3 that by two immutable things1 in which it was impossible for ,god to lie1 we might have a strong consolation1 who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us4#hh ,the torch may flicker in your hand1 the flame may be the sport of every passing gust of temptation and trial1 but ,he who lighted it will not suffer it to be quenched4 ,simon1 ,simon1 ,satan hath desired to have thee1 that he may sift thee as wheat3 but ,i have prayed for thee1 that thy faith fail not4#hi ,the ,great ,adversary may attempt to rob you of your peace1 but that peace is imperishably secured4 ,he must first destroy ,,the ,,rock1 before he can touch one trembling soul that has fled there for refuge6 ,he must first uncrown ,christ1 before he can touch one jewel in the purchased diadems of ,his people6 ,your life is hid with ,christ in ,god2 because ,he lives1 ye shall live also6 ,god himself must become mutable1 and cease to be ,god1 ere your eternal safety can be imperilled or impaired4 ,if we perish1 says ,luther1 ,christ perisheth with us4 #hh ,heb4 vi4 #ag1 #ah4 #hi ,luke xxii4 #ca4 99 99 99 99 99 ,let us turn now to the ,psalmist's ,,prayer4 ,if ,faith be called the eye1 ,prayer may be called the wings of the soul4 ,no sooner does ,faith descry ,god his ,,rock1 than forthwith ,prayer spreads out her pinions for flight4 ,in the close of the preceding verse1 7when in the extremity of his agony17 ,david had announced his determination to betake himself to supplication--,in the night ,his song shall be with me1 and my prayer unto the ,god of my life4 ,he follows up his resolution now with material for petition4 ,he puts on record a solemn and beautiful liturgy--,i will say unto ,god my ,rock1 ,why hast ,thou forgotten me8 why go ,i mourning because of the oppression of the enemy8 ,as with a sword in my bones1 mine enemies reproach me2 while they say daily unto me1 ,where is thy ,god8 ,how wonderfully does ,god thus overrule ,his darkest dispensations for the exercise and discipline of ,his people's spiritual graces6 ,in their overflowing prosperity they are apt to forget ,him4 ,he sends them afflictions4 ,trial elicits faith--faith drives to prayer--prayer obtains the spiritual blessing6 ,it was the sense of want and wretchedness which drove the prodigal to cry1 ,father1 ,i have sinned6 ,it was the buffeting thorn which sent ,paul thrice to his knees in the agony of supplication1 and brought down on his soul a rich heritage of spiritual blessing4 ,it was these surging waves--the deep calling to deep--which elicited the cry from this sinking castaway1 ,my heart is overwhelmed3 lead me to the ,,rock that is higher than ,i6 ,,behold ,,he ,,prayeth6 ,that announcement seems in a moment to turn the tide of battle1 and change the storm into a calm4 ,well has a ,christian poet written3-- ,frail art thou1 ,o man1 as a bubble on the breaker2 ,weak1 and govern'd by externals1 like a poor bird caught in the storm3 ,yet thy momentary breath can still the raging waters2 ,thy hand can touch a lever that may move the world4 ,the struggle till now may have seemed doubtful2 but they that ,,wait upon the ,lord shall renew their strength2 they shall mount up with wings as eagles4#ij ,it is said1 the beautiful plumage of the ,bird of ,paradise not only impedes its flight when flying against the wind1 but often in the ineffectual effort it is brought helpless and exhausted to the ground--its golden hues soiled and ruffled4 ,when1 however1 a gentle breeze springs up1 it spreads out its feathers in a fan-like shape1 and is borne joyously along6 ,so with the believer4 ,when he is called to do battle with unbelief1 the wings of faith are often soiled1 and mutilated1 and broken2 he falls a helpless thing to the earth4 ,but when ,god's own south wind blows1 he spreads out his glorious plumage1 and1 rising on the pinions of prayer1 is borne onwards and upwards to the region of heavenly peace and joy6 #ij ,isaiah xl4 #ca4 ,there are one or two characteristics in ,david's prayer worthy of note1 with which we shall sum up this chapter4 #a4 ,observe his ,,instant resort to the ,god of his life6 ,no sooner does the thought of prayer suggest itself1 than he proceeds to the sacred exercise4 ,like the prodigal1 not only does he say1 ,i will arise and go1 but the next record in his history is1 ,and he arose1 and came to his ,father4#ia ,oh1 how much spiritual benefit we miss by procrastination6 ,the cloud of blessing floats over our heads1 but we fail to stretch forth the electric rod of prayer to fetch it down6 ,we determine on embarking1 but1 by guilty delay1 we allow the vessel to weigh anchor1 and we are left behind4 ,many an afflictive dispensation thus loses its sanctifying design4 ,when the heart is crushed and broken1 the heavenly voice sounds startling and solemn6 ,what a season1 if timeously improved1 for enrichment at the mercy-seat6 ,when things present are disenchanted of their spell1--when time is brought to hold its relative insignificance to eternity1 what a season for the self-emptied one1 to go to the all-fulness of ,jesus1 and receive from ,him every needful supply6 ,but1 alas6 we often know not the day of our merciful visitation4 ,the heart1 when the hammer might be falling on it1 and welding it to the ,divine will1 is too often suffered to cool4 ,solemn impressions are allowed to wear away1--the blessing is lost by guilty postponement4 ,david might now have been so absorbed in his trials1 as to have lost the opportunity of prayer4 ,he might have invented some vain excuses for procrastination1 and missed the blessing2 just as the disciples1 by their sluggish indifference and guilty slumber1 drew down the thrice-repeated rebuke from injured ,goodness1 ,could ye not watch with me one hour8 ,but the golden moment is not suffered by him thus to pass4 ,no sooner does he get a glimpse of the path of prayer1 than he proceeds to tread it4 ,the very fact of the fire being so low1 is the most powerful reason for stirring it4 ,her ,lord being lost1 is the strongest argument for the ,spouse seeking ,him without delay2--,i will rise now1 and go about the city in the streets1 and in the broad ways ,i will seek ,him whom my soul loveth4#ib #ia ,luke xv4 #bj4 #ib ,sol4 ,song iii4 #b4 #b4 ,observe ,david's importunity4 ,he waxes into a holy boldness4 ,he seeks to know from the ,god of his life the reasons of this apparent desertion--',why hast ,thou forgotten me8' ,i cannot see or understand1 as ,thy covenant servant1 the reason of all this depression--why1 with all those promises of ,thine1 these hands should be hanging down1 and these knees be so feeble4 ,the mother does not cast off her sick or feeble child4 ,its very weakness and weariness is an additional argument for her care and love1 and draws her heart closer than ever to the bed of the tiny sufferer6 ,david knew well that ,god1 who had ever dealt with him as one whom his mother comforteth1 would not 7unless for some wise reason7 leave him to despondency4 ,looking to this immutable ,covenant-,jehovah1 and lifting his voice high above the water-floods1 he thus1 in impassioned prayer1 pleads the causes of his soul3--,in ,thee1 ,o ,lord1 do ,i put my trust2 let me never be ashamed3 deliver me in ,thy righteousness4 ,bow down ,thine ear to me2 deliver me speedily3 be ,thou my strong rock1 for an house of defence to save me4 ,for ,thou art my rock and my fortress2 therefore for ,thy name's sake lead me1 and guide me4 ,pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me3 for ,thou art my strength4 ,into ,thine hand ,i commit my spirit3 ,thou hast redeemed me1 ,o ,lord ,god of truth4#ic #ic ,psalm xxxi4 #a-e4 #c4 ,the ,psalmist takes his ,,special ,,trouble to ,god1 and makes it the subject of prayer4 ,he names in the ,divine presence the cause of his deepest perplexity4 ,as with a sword in my bones1 mine enemies reproach me1 while they say daily unto me1 ,where is thy ,god8#id #id ,verse #aj4 ,generalities1 says a good man1 are the death of prayer4 ,the loftiest privilege the believer can enjoy is the confidential unburdening of his wants into the ear of a ,father4 ,just as a child can freely unbosom to a parent what he can do to no one else1 so are we permitted to tell into the ear of our ,father in heaven whatever may be the heart-sorrow with which a stranger 7often a friend7 dare not intermeddle4 ,see the speciality in the ,psalmist's confession of his sin4 ,it is not the general acknowledgment of a sinner4 ,it is rather an humbled penitent carrying one deep crimson-stain to the mercy-seat2 bringing it1 and it alone1 as if for the moment he had to deal respecting it only with the great ,heart-searcher4 ,,my sin is ever before me4 ,i have done this evil in ,thy sight4 ,wash me from mine iniquity1 and cleanse me from my sin4 ,i said1 ,i will confess my transgressions1 and ,thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin4#ie #ie ,psalms li4 and xxxii4 ,let us not think that we can ever have comfort in merging individual sins in a general confession4 ,this is the great and pre-eminent advantage of secret closet-prayer4 ,social prayer and public prayer are eminently means of securing the ,divine blessing2 but it is in the quiet of the chamber1 when no eye and ear are on us but that of our ,father that seeth in secret1 that we can bring our secret burdens to ,his altar1--crucify our secret sins1 acknowledge the peculiar sources of our weakness and temptation1 and get special grace to help us in our times of need4 ,but we may here ask1 ,have we any assurance that the prayers of ,david1 at this critical emergency1 were indeed answered8 ,or17as we are often tempted in seasons of guilty unbelief to argue regarding our prayers still17 did they ascend unheard and unresponded to8--did the cries of the supplicant die away in empty echoes amid these glens of ,gilead8 ,we have his own testimony1 in a magnificent ode of his old age1#if one of the last1 and one of the noblest his lips ever sung1 that ,jehovah had heard him in the day of his trouble4 ,it is a ,psalm1 as we are told in the title1 written by him on his return to his capital1 when victory had crowned his arms1 and his kingdom was once more in peace4 ,the aged ,minstrel takes in it a retrospective survey of his eventful pilgrimage4 ,many a ,mizar-hill in the long vista rises conspicuously into view4 ,he climbs in thought their steeps1 and erects his ,ebenezer6 ,as his flight and sojourn beyond ,jordan formed the latest occurrence in that chequered life1 we may well believe that in uttering these inspired numbers1 the remembrance of his memorable soul-struggle there must have been especially present to his mind4 ,let us listen to his own words3 ,the sorrows of death compassed me1 and ,,the ,,floods ,,of ,,ungodly ,,men made me afraid4444 ,in my distress ,i called upon the ,lord1 and cried unto ,,my ,,god3 ,,he ,,heard my voice out of ,his temple1 and ,,my ,,cry ,,came ,,before ,,him1 ,,even ,,into ,,his ,,ears4 ,in the sublimest poetical figures of all his ,psalms1 ,jehovah is further represented in this hymn of thanksgiving as hastening with rapid flight1 in august symbols of majesty1 to the relief and succour of ,his servant--bowing the heavens--the darkness under ,his feet--riding upon a cherub--flying upon the wings of the wind--sending out ,his arrows1 and scattering ,his foes--shooting out lightnings--and discomfiting them4 ,and with the writer's mind still resting on the same emblems which he uses in his ,exile-,psalm1--the deep calling to deep--the noise of the water-spouts--the waves and billows1--he interweaves other references and experiences with this unequivocal testimony to ,god his ,rock1 as the ,,hearer ,,of ,,prayer1--,he sent from above1 ,he took me1 ,he drew me out of many waters4444 ,who is ,god save the ,lord8 or who is a ,,rock save our ,god8444 ,the ,lord liveth2 and blessed be my ,,rock2 and let the ,god of my salvation be exalted6#ig #if ,psalm xviii4 #ig ,psalm xviii4 #af1 #ca1 #df4 99 99 99 99 99 ,reader6 let me ask1 in conclusion1 do you know in your experience the combined triumphs of faith and prayer--these two heavenly spies that fetch back ,eschol-clusters of blessing to the true ,israel of ,god8 ,do you know what it is1 in the hour of adversity1 to repair to the ,rock of your strength8 ,do you believe in ,his willingness to hear1 and in ,his power to save8 ,how sad the case of those who1 in their seasons of trial1 have no refuge to which they can betake themselves1 but some fluctuating1 perishing1 earthly one2--who1 when they lose the world1 lose their all6 ,the miser plundered of his gold1 cleaving to the empty coffers2--the pleasure-hunter seeking to drain the empty chalice1 or to extract honey out of the empty comb2--the bereaved grasping with broken hearts their withered gourd1 and refusing to be comforted6 ,the worldling is like the bird building its nest on the topmost bough of the tree4 ,there it weaves its wicker dwelling1 and feels as if nothing can invade its security and peace4 ,by and by the woodman comes1--lays down his axe by the root4 ,the chips fly off apace4 ,the pine rocks and shivers2 in a few moments it lies prone on the forest-sward4 ,the tiny bird hovers over its dismantled home--the scene of desolation and havoc--and then goes screaming through the wood with the tale of her woes6 ,the ,christian1 again1 is like the sea-fowl1 building its nest in the niches of the ocean cliff1 which bids defiance at once to the axe and the hand of the plunderer4 ,far below1 the waves are lifting their crested tops1 and eddying pools are boiling in fury4 ,the tempest may be sighing overhead1 and the wild shriek of danger and death rising from some helpless bark that is borne like a weed on the maddened waters4 ,but the spent spray can only touch these rocky heights1--no more2 and the curlew1 sitting with folded wings on her young1 can look calm and undismayed on the elemental war4 ,what is the best grounds of a philosopher's constancy1 says ,bishop ,hall1 but as moving sands1 in comparison of the ,rock that we may build upon6 ,yes6 build in the clefts of that immoveable ,rock1 and you are safe4 ,safe in ,christ1 you can contemplate undismayed all the tossings and heavings of life's fretful sea6 ,so long as the ,psalmist looked to ,god1 he was all secure4 ,when he looked to himself1 he was all despondency4 ,peter1 when his eye was on his ,lord1 walked boldly on the limpid waves of ,gennesaret2 when he diverted it on himself1 and thought on the dangers around him1 and the unstable element beneath him1 he began to sink6 ,believer6 is your heart overwhelmed8 ,are you undergoing a similar experience with the ,psalmist8 ,your friends 7perhaps your nearest and best7 misunderstanding your trial1 unable to probe the severity of your wound1 mocking your tears with unsympathising reflections and cruel jests--a sword in your bones6 ,turn your season of sorrow into a season of prayer4 ,look up to the ,god-man ,mediator1 the tender ,kinsman within the veil6 ,he knoweth your frame4 ,when ,he sees your frail bark struggling in the storm1 and hears the cry of prayer rising from your lips1 ,he will say1 as ,he said of old1 ,i ,,know their sorrows1 and ,i will go down to deliver them6 ,o wounded ,hart6 panting after the water-brooks1 ,i was once wounded for thee4 ,o smitten soul6 seamed and scarred with the lightning and tempest1 see how ,i myself1 the ,rock of ,ages1 was smitten and afflicted6 ,ay1 and thou canst say too1 ,god ,,my ,rock6 ,thou canst individually repose in that sheltering ,refuge1 as if it were intended for thee alone4 ,the loving eye of that ,saviour is upon thee1 as if thou wert alone the object of ,his gaze1--as if no other struggling castaway breasted the billows but thyself6 ,blessed security1 who would not prize it6 ,blessed shelter1 who would not repair to it6 ,oh that the ,psalmist's creed and resolution might be ours--,i will say of the ,lord1 ,he is ,,my ,,rock and ,,my ,fortress1 and ,,my ,deliverer4--,o come let us sing unto the ,lord3 let us make a joyful noise to the ,,rock ,,of ,,our ,,salvation6 ,,xii4 ,the ,quiet ,haven4 ,ah1 if our souls but poise and swing1 ,like the compass in its brazen ring1 ,ever level and ever true1 ,to the toil and the task we have to do2 ,we shall sail securely1 and safely reach ,the heavenly ,isle1 on whose shining beach ,the sights we love and the sounds we hear ,will be those of joy1 and not of fear4 ,david utters again strains of hope2 not that faint and common hope of possibility or probability1 that after stormy days it may be better with him1 but a certain hope that shall never make ashamed2 such a ,hope as springs from ,faith1 yea1 in effect1 is one with it4444 ,faith rests upon the goodness and truth of ,him that hath promised2 and ,hope1 raising itself upon ,faith so established1 stands up1 and looks out to the future accomplishment of the promise4--,leighton4 ,in that day1 the light shall not be clear nor dark3 444 but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light4--,zech4 xiv4 #f1 #g4 ,why art thou cast down1 ,o my soul8 and why art thou disquieted within me8 hope thou in ,god3 for ,i shall yet praise him1 who is the health of my countenance1 and my ,god4--,verse #aa4 ,,xii4 ,,the ,,quiet ,,haven4 ,we have now reached the close of this instructive ,psalm--the last entry in the experience of the ,royal ,exile4 ,here is the grand summing up--the conclusion of the whole matter4 ,the curtain falls over the scene of conflict1 leaving the believer triumphant4 ,as he began with prayer1 he now ends with praise2 as he began with weeping1 he now ends with rejoicing2 as he began mourning over the loss of his ,god1 he ends exulting in ,him as the health of his countenance4 ,we are reminded of the ,great ,apostle reaching1 by successive steps in his high argument1 new altitudes of faith and hope1--beginning with no condemnation1 till he ends with no separation1--mounting with loftier sweep and bolder pinion1 till1 far above the mists and clouds of the lower valley1 he can utter the challenge1 ,who shall separate me from the love of ,christ8#ih #ih ,romans viii4 ,joyful is it when a protracted war1 which has been draining a nation's resources and rifling its homes1 is drawing to a close1--when an army1 amid hostile tribes1 and the more fatal ravages of a hostile climate1 has succeeded in trampling out the ashes of rebellion1 and is returning triumphant from hard-contested fields of valour4 ,joyful is it when a noble vessel1 that has for long been wrestling with the storm1 enters at last the desired haven1--when the voyagers1 who for hours of anxiety and terror have been hanging with bated breath between life and death1 can now pass the gladdening watchword from mouth to mouth--,thank ,god1 we are safe6 ,joyful1 too1 when the tried believer1 as described in this ,psalm1--persecuted1 but not forsaken2 cast down1 but not destroyed1--has surmounted wave after wave1 that has been threatening to sweep him from his footing on the ,rock1 and is made more than conqueror through ,him that loved him6 ,the wounded ,hart we found in the opening verse bounding through the forest glades1 hit by the archers1 with glazed eye and panting sides1 has now reached the coveted ,water-brooks2--the fainting soul is now drinking at the great fountainhead of consolation and joy4 ,we have elsewhere an appropriate inspired comment on the whole ,psalm1 with its successive experiences3 ,many are the afflictions of the righteous3 but the ,lord delivereth him out of them all4#ii #ii ,psalm xxxiv4 #ai4 ,this concluding verse is so far a repetition of the fifth2 and yet1 as we cursorily noted in the introductory chapter1 there is an important difference between them1 to which we may again for a moment advert4 ,in the former1 it is on the part of the speaker the language of faith in the midst of despondency1 expressing assurance that something will be his1 which he has not yet attained3 ,hope thou in ,god2 for ,i shall ,,yet praise ,him for the help of ,his countenance4 ,in the latter1 he summons his soul to the exercise of the same hope and confidence2 but he now can exult in the realised possession of ,god's favour and love--,,who ,,is the health of my countenance4 ,nay1 more1 in the fifth verse he stops with the words1 my countenance2 but in the closing verse1 he adds the expression of appropriating faith and triumphant assurance4 ,it is the ,key-stone of the arch4 ,two little words1 which1 like the ciphers following the unit1 give an augmented value to all that goes before6--,,my ,,god6 ,the two last divine expedients to which he had resorted 7faith and prayer7 have not been in vain4 ,they have loaded the cloud of mercy1 and it bursts upon the suppliant in a shower of blessing6 ,the #bb;d ,psalm has been referred by commentators to this same period of exile among the mountains of ,gilead4 ,there is much to confirm this supposition in the general tone of the ,psalm1 as well as in its incidental references4 ,there is the same deep1 anguished depression of spirit1--words1 indeed1 denoting such an intensity of sorrow1 that1 though primarily applicable to ,david1 we must look for their true exponent in the case of a ,greater ,sufferer4 ,the challenge1 ,where is thy ,god8 of the #db;d1 seems echoed back in the #bb;d by the mournful appeal1 ,my ,god1 my ,god1 why hast ,thou forsaken me8 ,but in the latter1 as in the former1 7ere it closes17 light breaks through the thick darkness4 ,by a similar exercise of faith and prayer1 the ,royal ,mourner triumphs4 ,deliver my soul1 says he1 from the sword2 my darling from the power of the dog4 ,save me from the lion's mouth4 7,ver4 #bj1 #ba47 ,the prayer is heard while he is yet speaking6 ,at this point of the ,psalm1 the language all at once passes from complaint into exultation--from prayer into praise2 and the voice of victory rises higher and higher1 till it reaches the close4 ,god has taken off his sackcloth1 and girded him with gladness4 ,he already anticipates the happy time when again he shall be the leader of the festal throng on the heights of ,zion4 ,thou hast heard me1 is his opening burst of triumph1 from the horns of the unicorns4 ,i will declare ,thy name unto my brethren3 in the midst of the congregation will ,i praise ,thee4444 ,my praise shall be of ,thee in the great congregation3 ,i will pay my vows before them that fear ,him4#ajj #ajj ,psalm xxii4 #ba1 #bb1 #be4 ,nay1 further2 what ,psalm succeeds the #bb;d8 ,is it mere accidental arrangement which has given the beautiful #bc;d 7the best known and loved of all ,david's ,psalms7 the immediate sequence8 ,is it a mere devout imagination which leads us to regard it 7from the place it occupies in the ,psalter7 as the next his hand penned and his lips sung1 after these plaintive elegies8 ,this ,song of the chosen flock is not1 as many think1 the ,psalm of his boyhood1 written in the days of his innocence1 with his shepherd's crook and harp1 in the ,valleys of ,bethlehem4 ,the imagery of the ,psalm may indeed have been taken from this sunny season of his youth4 ,but1 as it has been suggested1#aja the emblem may as likely have been borrowed from seeing a flock of sheep in these grassy regions reposing by green pastures and still waters--or1 at other times1 wending their way out of some dark valley2--one1 perhaps a timid wanderer1 clenched in the arms of the shepherd1 on his way with it back to the fold6 #aja ,see these references to the #bb;d and #bc;d ,psalms well stated in ,blaikie's ,david1 ,king of ,israel1 pp4 #cbb1 #cbc4 ,we have witnessed1 after a day of gloomy fog and rain and thunder1 the dense curtain that overhung the landscape rolling away4--,the clouds break1 gleaming vistas appear through their golden linings2 and the rays of the long-imprisoned sun shine down upon ten thousand sparkling pearls on grass and flower4 ,the choristers of wood and grove had till then been silent2 but now are they seen brushing the rain-drops from the branches1 and filling the air with their music1 and all nature is glad again4 ,so it is with the ,great ,singer of ,israel2 so long as ,god's face is withdrawn1 his wings are folded--his melody hushed--his harp unstrung4 ,but when the thunder-cloud has passed1--when1 as the clear shining after rain1 the longed-for countenance again breaks forth1--when1 in answer to those prayers that were mightier than the armies of ,joab close by1 his enemies are dispersed1 and the way again open to a peaceful return to his capital1--may we not imagine the triumphant conqueror--strong in the ,lord1 and in the power of ,his might--making the ,gilead valleys resound with the hymn of praise8--,the ,lord is my shepherd2 ,i shall not want4 ,he maketh me to lie down in green pastures3 ,he leadeth me beside the still waters6#ajb ,as he thought of all the trying discipline to which he had been subjected to test his faith1 drive him to prayer1 and lead him to thirst more ardently for the living ,god1 he could say in the retrospect1 what he was unable to do at the time--,he restoreth my soul3 ,he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for ,his name's sake4#ajc ,that path was a rugged one--that trial a severe one--when he was found setting out barefoot1 and dim with tears1 across ,mount ,olivet1 compelled to take refuge beyond ,jordan amid the wilds of ,bashan4 ,but he acknowledges now that these were paths of righteousness4 ,they were well and wisely ordered1--the hand of his ,god had appointed them4 ,he can repeat with greater assurance his forbearing retort to the curses of ,shimei--,,let ,,him ,,curse ,,on1 ,,for ,,the ,,lord ,,hath ,,bidden ,,him4 ,moreover1 all this wilderness-experience not only sustained him in the present--it nerved him for the future4 ,god's renewed faithfulness in this trying hour was a pledge for all time to come4 ,he had added another ,mizar-hill to former memorials of the ,divine goodness4 ,with the prospect1 at his advanced age1 of the last and terminating trial of his pilgrimage1 7the descent to the deepest and gloomiest ravine of all17 he could1 with his eye on the guiding ,shepherd1 exclaim--,yea1 though ,i walk through the valley of the shadow of death1 ,i will fear no evil3 for ,thou art with me2 ,thy rod and ,thy staff they comfort me4#ajd ,even temporal mercies had been largely and bountifully supplied him in the place of his exile4 ,the powerful chiefs of the ,transjordanic tribes1 as we previously observed1--,shobi of ,ammon1 and ,machir1 and ,barzillai of ,manasseh1--brought the rich produce of their fields and pastures for the supply of himself and his army4 ,he could say--,thou hast prepared a table before me in the presence of mine enemies3 ,thou anointest my head with oil2 my cup runneth over4#aje ,and now1 with the prospect before him of a joyful return to his throne1 and the still more joyous prospect of being a worshipper in ,god's house on earth1--the type of the better ,temple in the skies1--he can sing1 as the closing strain of his exile--,goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life2 and ,i will dwell in the house of the ,lord for ever4#ajf #ajb ,psalm xxiii4 #a1 #b4 #ajc ,psalm xxiii4 #c4 #ajd ,psalm xxiii4 #d4 #aje ,psalm xxiii4 #e4 #ajf ,psalm xxiii4 #f4 ,reader6 is this your experience8 ,is this the result of your temporal afflictions1 the end of your spiritual conflicts1--to lead you to the same ,shepherd of ,israel1 and to exult in ,him as the health of your countenance1 and your ,god8 ,elimelech1 of old1 was compelled by famine to leave ,bethlehem1 but his name signified1 ,my ,god is ,king6 ,when we are pressed with straits1 and troubles1 and perplexities1 let us make that name our strong tower6 ,,my ,,god ,,is ,,king is a glorious motto4 ,is it the heavings and convulsions of the world's nations--kings of the earth setting themselves1 and rulers taking counsel together1 from motives of personal ambition1 or political jealousy1 or lust of conquest8 ,write upon all their schemes1 ,,elimelech--,my ,god is ,king6 ,is it the apparently mysterious discipline through which some may be passing--bereavements threatening your dwelling1 or the hand of death already on your loved ones8 ,write on the darkened threshold1 ,,elimelech--,my ,god is ,king6 ,is it the prospect of your own death that is filling you with apprehension8 ,remember in whose hands1 under whose sovereign control1 that messenger is4 ,go to the vacant ,sepulchre at ,golgotha1 and read that writing and superscription which the ,abolisher of death has left for the comfort of all ,his people3--,i have the keys of the grave and of death4 ,christian6 even here1 in these gloomy regions1 thy ,god is ,king6 ,how blessed thus to be able1 both in temporal and spiritual things1 to lie in the arms of ,his mercy1 saying1 ,undertake ,thou for us6--to feel that every thread in the web of life is woven by the ,great ,artificer1--that not one movement in these swiftly-darting shuttles is chance2 but all is by ,his direction1 and all is to result in good6 ,in having ,himself as our portion1 we are independent of every other2--we have the pledge of all other blessings4 ,let the moveables go1 the inheritance is ours6 ,let the streams fail1 we have the inexhaustible fountain6 ,drop millions of gold1 says good ,bishop ,hopkins1 boundless revenues1 ample territories1 crowns and sceptres1 and a poor contemptible worm lays his ,one ,god against them all4#ajg ,our all1 says ,lady ,powerscourt1 is but two mites 7soul and body74 ,his all--,heaven1 ,earth1 ,eternity1 ,himself4 ,we have said in a previous chapter that the loftiest archangel can tell of no mightier prerogative than looking up to the ,great ,being before whom he casts his crown1 and saying1 ,my ,god6 ,,we can utter them in a sense higher than he4 ,he is ,,our ,god in ,christ4 ,the words to us are written 7which to the unredeemed angels they are not7 in the blood of atonement6 ,imagine1 for a moment1 a conversation between a bright angel in heaven and a ransomed sinner from earth4 ,the angel can point to a past eternity2 he can tell of a glorious pedigree2 he can point up to his ,almighty ,maker1 and say1 ,he has been my ,god for ages and ages past4 ,i have been kept1 supported1 gladdened by ,his amazing mercy1 long before the birth of time or your world6 ,true1 we may imagine the redeemed and glorified sinner to reply1--but ,i can tell of something more wondrous still4 ,he is my ,god in covenant6 ,thou art ,his by creation1 but ,i am ,his also by adoption1 filiation1 sonship4 ,though grace has kept thee through these countless ages1 during which thou hast cast thy crown at ,his feet1 what is the grace manifested to thee1 in comparison with the grace manifested to me8 ,grace made thee holy1 and kept thee holy2 but grace found me on the brink of despair1 plucked me as a brand from the burning1 brought me from the depths of woe and degradation1 to a throne and a crown6 ,thy ,god hath loved thee4 ,my ,god hath 'loved me' and ,,given ,,himself for me6 #ajg ,were it not for this word of possession1 the devil might say the ,creed to as good purpose as we4 ,he believes there is a ,god and ,christ1 but that which torments him is this--he can say 'my' to never an article of faith4--,sibbs4 99 99 99 99 99 ,and now we close our meditations on this beautiful and instructive ,psalm3--a ,psalm which1 even since we have begun to write on it1 we have seen clung to as a treasured solace in hours of sickness2--its sublime utterances soothing the departing soul1 just as it was pluming its wings for flight to the spirit-world6 ,reader6 in any future dark and troubled passages in your life1 you may well with comfort turn to this diary of an old and tried saint1 remembering that it records the experiences of the man after ,god's own heart4 ,tracing his footsteps and tear-drops along the sands of time1 you shall cease to think it strange concerning the fiery trials that may be trying you1 as though some strange thing happened4 ,you will find that the same afflictions are accomplished in you1 which have been accomplished in the case of ,god's most favoured servants in every age of the ,church4 ,do not expect now the unclouded day4 ,that is not for earth1 but for heaven4 ,god indeed1 had ,he seen meet1 might have ordained that your pathway was to be without cloud or darkness1 trial or tear2--no poisoned darts1 no taunts1 no contumely1 no cross1 no deep calling to deep1--nothing but calm seas unfretted by a ripple1 sunny slopes and verdant valleys1 and bright ,mizar-hills of love and faithfulness6 ,but to keep you humble1--to teach you your dependence on ,himself1--to make your present existence a state of discipline and probation1 ,he has ordered it otherwise4 ,your journey as travellers is through mist and cloud-land2--your voyage as seamen through alternate calm and storm4#ajh ,and much of that discipline1 too1 is mysterious4 ,you cannot discern its why and wherefore4 ,to employ a former symbol1 you are now like the vessel building in the dock-yard4 ,the unskilled and uninitiated can hear nothing but clanging hammers2--they can see nothing but unshapely timbers and glare of torches4 ,it is a scene of din and noise1 dust and confusion4 ,but all will at last be acknowledged as needed portions in the spiritual workmanship2--when the soul1 released from its earthly fastenings1 is launched on the summer seas of eternity-- ,give to the winds thy fears1 ,hope and be undismay'd4 ,god hears thy sighs and counts thy tears1 ,god shall lift up thy head3 ,through waves1 and clouds1 and storms1 ,he gently clears the way2 ,wait thou ,his time--so shall this night ,soon end in joyous day4#aji #ajh ,sometimes ,i can rejoice in the ,mount with my ,redeemer4 ,sometimes ,i lie in the ,valley1 dead1 barren1 unprofitable4444 ,i am frequently wounded in the battle4 ,blessed be ,god that the ,physician1 the ,castle1 and the ,fortress1 are ever at hand4--,bickersteth's ,life4 #aji ,david might have gone a thousand times to the tabernacle and never found a thousandth part of the blessing he found in this wilderness4 ,it was in the absence of all that was dear to him as man1 he found his special solace in ,god4--,harington ,evans4 ,above all1 let this ,psalm teach you that your spiritual interests are in safe keeping4 ,no wounded ,hart seeking the water-brooks ever sought them in vain4 ,when drooping1 downcast1 disconsolate yourself1 remember ,god is faithful4 ,he cannot deny ,himself4 ,he satisfieth the longing soul with goodness4 ,none is able to pluck you out of ,his hand4 ,there may be fluctuations--ebbings and flowings--in the tides of the soul2 but ,he that hath begun a good work in you1 will carry it on until the day of the ,lord ,jesus4 ,you may reach the heavenly fold with bleating cries1--with torn fleece and bleeding feet2--but you will reach it1 if you have learned to sing1 ,the ,lord is my shepherd6 ,you may reach the water-brooks with languid eye and panting sides2--but you will reach them1 if you can truthfully say1 ,my soul thirsteth for ,god1 for the living ,god6 ,you may begin your song in the minor-key1 but if ,,my ,,god be its key-note1 you will finish it with the angels and among ministering seraphim6 ,go then1 ,christians6 and1 as you see what ,,faith1 and ,,hope1 and ,,prayer did for the ,exile of ,gilead1 try what they can and will do for you4 ,with all your varied trials1 with all your manifold sorrowful experiences1 who1 after all 7this ,psalm seems to say7 so favoured as you8 ,who possess your present exalted privileges8--who your elevating hopes8--the consciousness1 even in your trials1 that each billow is wafting you nearer the haven of eternal rest8 ,these see the works of the ,lord1 and ,his wonders in the deep4 ,for ,he commandeth1 and raiseth the stormy wind1 which lifteth up the waves thereof4 ,they mount up to the heaven1 they go down again to the depths3 their soul is melted because of trouble4 ,then they cry unto the ,lord in their trouble1 and ,he bringeth them out of their distresses4 ,he maketh the storm a calm1 so that the waves thereof are still4 ,then are they glad because they be quiet2 ,,so ,,he ,,bringeth ,,them ,,unto ,,their ,,desired ,,haven6 ,soul1 then know thy full salvation1 ,rise o'er sin1 and fear1 and care1 ,joy to find in every station ,something still to do or bear4 ,think what ,spirit dwells within thee1 ,think what ,father's smiles are thine1 ,think that ,jesus died to save thee-- ,child of heaven6 canst thou repine8 ,haste thee on from grace to glory-- ,arm'd by ,,faith and wing'd by ,,prayer2 ,heaven's eternal days before thee1 ,god's own hand shall guide thee there6 ,soon shall close thy earthly mission1 ,soon shall pass thy pilgrim days2 ,,hope shall change to glad fruition1 ,,faith to sight1 and ,,prayer to praise6 ,,the ,,end4 ,,ballantyne ,,and ,,company1 ,,printers1 ,,edinburgh4 ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author4 ,,memories ,,of ,,gennesaret4 ,post #hvo1 #fs4 #f;d4 cloth4 ,seventh ,edition4 ,,memories ,,of ,,bethany4 ,crown #hvo1 #cs4 #f;d4 cloth4 ,twelfth ,thousand4 ,,story ,,of ,,bethlehem4 ,with ,illustrations by ,,thomas4 ,crown #hvo1 #es4 cloth antique1 gilt edges4 ,fifth ,thousand4 ,,footsteps ,,of ,,st ,,paul4 ,crown #hvo1 #es4 cloth4 ,fourteenth ,thousand4 ,,altar ,,stones2 ,,original ,,hymns ,,for ,,plain ,,readers4 #f;d4 sewed1 #h;d4 cloth4 ,,the ,,bow ,,in ,,the ,,cloud2 ,,or1 ,,words ,,of ,,comfort ,,for ,,hours ,,of ,,sorrow4 ,royal #cbmo1 #h;d4 sewed1 #as4 cloth4 ,twenty-fifth ,thousand4 ,a ,,volume ,,of ,,family ,,prayers4 ,crown #hvo1 #cs4 #f;d4 cloth4 ,sixth ,edition4 ,,the ,,morning ,,and ,,night ,,watches4 ,in one vol41 #as4 #f;d4 cloth1 royal #cbmo4 ,separately1 #h;d4 sewed1 #as4 cloth2 also in large type1 crown #hvo1 #cs4 #f;d4 cloth4 ,hundredth ,thousand4 ,,evening ,,incense4 ,a ,companion to ,morning ,watches4 ,royal #cbmo1 #h;d4 sewed1 #as4 cloth4 ,,the ,,mind ,,and ,,words ,,of ,,jesus4 ,in one vol41 #as4 #f;d4 cloth1 royal #cbmo4 ,separately1 #h;d4 sewed1 #as4 cloth4 ,,morning ,,watches ,,and ,,evening ,,incense4 ,bound together1 #cbmo1 #as4 #f;d4 cloth4 ,,the ,,first ,,bereavement2 ,,or1 ,,words ,,addressed ,,to ,a ,,mourner ,,on ,,the ,,occasion ,,of ,a ,,first ,,trial4 #d;d4 sewed1 #f;d4 cloth4 ,,the ,,soldier',s ,,text-,,book2 ,,or1 ,,confidence ,,in ,,the ,,time ,,of ,,war4 #fdmo1 #c;d4 sewed1 #f;d4 cloth4 ,,wells ,,of ,,baca2 ,,or1 ,,solaces ,,of ,,the ,,christian ,,mourner3 ,,and ,,other ,,thoughts ,,on ,,bereavement4 #ahmo1 #as cloth4 ,tenth ,edition4 ,,the ,,child',s ,,book ,,of ,,divinity2 ,,or1 ,,grandmamma',s ,,stories ,,about ,,bible ,,doctrines4 #ahmo1 #as4 cloth4 ,,the ,,woodcutter ,,of ,,lebanon4 ,fcap41 #bs4 #f;d4 cloth4 ,,the ,,exiles ,,of ,,lucerna2 ,,or1 ,,the ,,sufferings ,,of ,,the ,,waldenses ,,during ,,the ,,persecution ,,of #afhf4 ,fcap41 #bs4 #f;d4 cloth4 ,,the ,,rock ,,of ,,castello4 ,square #afmo4 ,,london3 ,,james ,,nisbet ,,co41 #ba ,,berners ,,street4